
3731 
5 
13 

"^ D STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

BOECETTM. 1913,N0. 51 - - - - - . WHOLE NUMBER 562 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT 



ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS READ AT A PUBLIC CON- 
FERENCE UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE NEW YORK- 
NEW JERSEY COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN 
CIVIC LEAGUE FOR IMMIGRANTS. HELD AT 
NEW YORK CITY. MAY 16 AND 17, 1913 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1913 

Monogram' 











BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

[Note. — .With the exceptions Indicated, the documents named below will be sent free 
of charge upon application to the Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C. Those 
marked with an asterisk (*) are no longer available for free distribution, but may be 
had of the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing OflSce, Washington, D. C, 
upon payment of the pi-ice stated. Documents marked with a dagger (t) are out of 
print. Titles are abridged,] 

1912. 

*No. 1. Coarse of study for rural school teachers, Mutchler and Craig. 5 ots. 
No. 2. Mathematics at West Point and Annapolis. 
No. 3. Eeport of committee on uniform records and reports. 
No. 4. Mathematics in technical secondary schools. 

* No, 5. A study of expenses of city school systems. Harlan Updegraff. 10 tls. 

* No. 6, Agricultural education in secondary schools. 10 cts. 
No. 7. Educational status of nursing. M. Adelaide Nutting. 

i"No. 8. Peace day. Fannie Fern Andrews. [Later publication, 1913, No. 12.] 
No. 9. Country schools for city boys. William Starr Myers. 

* No. 10. Bibliography of education in agriculture and home economics, 10 cts. 
t No. 11. Current educational topics, No. I. 

* No. 12. Dutch schools of New Netherland. W. H. Kilpatrick. 20 cts. 

* No. 13. Influences tending to improve work of teacher of mathematics. 5 cts. 

* No. 14. Eeport of American commissioners on teaching of mathematics, 10 cts. 
t No. 15. Current educational topics. No. II. 

*No. 16. The reorganized school playground. Henry S. Curtis. 5 cts. 

* No. 17. The Montessorl system of education. Anna Tolman Smith. 5 cts. 

* No. 18. Teaching language through agriculture, etc. M. A. Leiper. 5 cts. 

* No. 19. Professional distribution of college graduates. E. B. Burritt. 10 cts. 

* No. 20. Readjustment of a rural high school. H. A. Brown. 10 cts. 

No. 21. Urban and rural common-school statistics. UpdegrafC and Hood. 

No. 22. Public and private high schools. 

No. 23. Special collections in libraries. Johnston and Mudge. 

No. 24. Current educational topics, No. III. 

No. 25. List of publications of the United States Bureau of Education, 1912. 

* No. 26. Bibliography of child study for the years 1910-11. 10 cts. 

No. 27. History of public-school education in Arkansas. Stephen B. Week>>. 

No. 28. Cultivating school gi'ounds in Wake County, N. C. Zebulon Judd. 

No. 29. Bibliography of the teaching of mathematics, 1900-1912. 

No. 30. Latin-American universities and special schools. E. E. Brandon. 

No. 31. Educational directory, 1912. 

No. 32. Bibliography of exceptional children. A. MacDonald. 

'■■■ No. 83. Statistics of State universities, etc., 1912. 5 cts. 

(Conlinued on p. 3 of cover.) 



UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

BULLETIN. 1913. NO. 51 WHOLE NUMBER 562 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT 



ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS READ AT A PUBLIC CON- 
FERENCE UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE NEW YORK- 
NEW JERSEY COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN 
CIVIC LEAGUE FOR IMMIGRANTS, HELD AT 
NEW YORK CITY, MAY 16 AND 17, 1913 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1913 




D, OF D. 

jAPJ 10 1914 






^ 



I 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Letter of transmittal 5 

I. Domestic education of the immigrant 7 

The work of the domestic educator. Mrs. Annie L. Hansen 7 

Teaching immigrant mothers proper food. Miss Winifred Gibbs__ 10 
The training of the domestic educator — 

I. — By Miss Helen Kinne 11 

II.— By Miss H. Kitredge 12 

II. Immigrants in labor camps and isolated communities 13 

I. — By Joseph Mayper ^" 13 

II.— By Jane E. Robbins 15 

III. Education of the immigrant child 18 

I.— By William H. Maxwell 18 

II. — By John H. Haaren 19 

III.— By Cecil A. Kidd 22 

lY. — By Joseph H. Wade 23 

Recreation for the immigrant. Edward W. Stitt 25 

University settlement. Robbins Oilman 27 

Coordination of welfare agencies— 

I. — By Margaret Knox 29 

II. — By Warren C. Eberle 30 

III. — By Annie Carroll Moore 32 

IV. Education of the immigrant adult 33 

I. — By Clarence M. Abbott 33 

II. — By E. H. Lewinski-Corwin .- 36 

III.— By Mrs. Adelaide Bowles Maltby 37 

IT. — By Rosamond Kimball 37 

Y. Evening schools for foreigners 39 

The necessity for evening schools. Albert Shields 39 

Selection of evening-school teachers — 

I. — By James C. Byrnes 42 

II. — By Edith L. Jardine 43 

III. — By Arthur J. Roberts 46 

The content and method of instruction — 

I. — By Robert B. Brodie 47 

II. — By Isador Springer 48 

Supplementary activities — 

I. — By Albert Loewinthan 49 

II.— By Arthur V. Taylor 50 

III. — By Michael J. Isaacs 51 

3 



LEITER OF TRANSMITFAL 



Department of the Interior, 

Bureau or Education, 
Washington^ November i, 1913. 

Sir: To the people of no other country is the problem of the edu- 
cation of immigrants of so much importance as to the people of the 
United States. No other country has so many men, women, and 
children coming to its shores every year from all parts of the world. 
In many of our cities and towns, and in some of our States, the 
people of foreign birth constitute a very large proportion of the 
entire population. It is reported that the immigrants stopping in 
New York City last year were from 98 different countries and 
l^rovinces and spoke 66 different languages. In one school district 
in Pennsylvania there are children of 29 different nationalities. 

Many of those who have come to us in recent years are from 
countries having very meager provisions for public education. Ac- 
cording to the Federal census of 191Q more than 25 per cent 
of the foreign-bom population of 3 States was illiterate, from 15 
to 25 per cent of 5 States, from 10 to 15 per cent of 11 States, and 
from 5 to 10 per cent of 21 States. In only one State was the per- 
centage of illiteracy of the foreign-bom population less than 5. 

Most of the immigrants in recent years have little kinship with 
the older stocks of our population, either in blood, language, methods 
of thought, traditions, manners, or customs; they know little of our 
political and civic life and are unused to our social ideals; their 
environment here is wholly different from that to which they have 
been accustomed. Strangers to each other, frequently from coun- 
tries hostile to each other by tradition, of different speech and creeds, 
they are thrown together, strangers among strangers, in a strange 
country, and are thought of by us only as a conglomerate mass of 
foreigners. With little attention to their specific needs, they are 
crowded into factories, mines, and dirty tenement quarters, too often 
the prey of the exploiter in business and the demagogue in politics. 

That these people are interested in the elementary education of 
their children, or at least obedient to the school-attendance laws, is 
shown by the fact that the least illiterate element of our population 
is the native-bom children of foreign-born parents. The illiteracy 

5 



b LETTER OF TEANSMITTAL. 

among the children of native-born parents is three times as great as 
that among the native-bom children of foreign-born parents. 

But it is not alone the question of the school education of children. 
The millions of adult men and women, and of children older than 
the upper limit of the compulsory school-attendance age, must be 
looked after; they must be prepared for American citizenship and 
for participation in our democratic industrial, social, and religious 
life; they must be given sympathetic help in finding themselves in 
their new environment and in adjusting themselves to their new 
opportunities and responsibilities. For the enrichment of our na- 
tional life as well as for the happiness and welfare of individuals 
we must respect their ideals and preserve and strengthen all of the 
best of their Old World life they bring with them. We must not 
attempt to destroy and remake — we can only transform. Eacial and 
national virtues must not be thoughtlessly exchanged for American 
vices. 

The proper education of these people is a duty which the nation 
owes to itself and to them. It can neglect this duty only to their 
hurt and to its own peril. No systematic effort has ever been made 
to work out the best methods therefor. We have little definite usable 
knowledge of the varying characteristics of the several races. We 
are ignorant even of the surest and quickest way to teach them to 
speak and understand English. To work out the several phases of 
this vital problem of the education of immigrants and their children 
should be the task of this bureau, and the bureau will gladly under- 
take it whenever sufficient funds are made available for that 
purpose. In the meantime I recommend that the accompanying 
manuscript, which contains the substance of papers and addresses 
presented at the public conference on the education of immigrants, 
held under the auspices of the New York-New Jersey committee of 
the North American Civic League for Immigrants at the College of 
the City of New York, May 16 and 17, 1913, be published as a bulletin 
of the Bureau of Education. I believe it may serve at least to call 
attention to this problem and to the need of a more careful, sys- 
tematic study of it. 

Eespectfully submitted. 

P. P. Claxton, 

Commissioner, 

To the Secretary or the Interior. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 



I. DOMESTIC EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 



THE WORK OF THE DOMESTIC EDUCATOR. 

Mrs. Annie L. Hansen, 
NortJi A)H€rican Civic Leaiine for Inniiifjrants. 

Domestic education, as we understand it, is an effort to meet the 
educational needs of the adult immigrant woman and to preserve 
the influence of her home as a vital force in the training- of her 
children. It is further designed to supplement the work of the 
public schools with consecutive constructive work in the homes. 

We have become so used to modern conveniences that we are apt 
to forget that those coming to us from other countries have not had 
them. The immigrant women come to us from environments en- 
tirely different from those they find themselves in when the}^ arrive 
in this countr3^ The great majority of them are of the peasant 
type, have had few or no opportunities for education, have gener- 
ally worked in the field, and have never lived in the city or in close 
proximity to neighbors. It becomes immediately necessary to teach 
the use of sinks, how to clean them, and how to flush out the drains. 
Then come the toilets, garbage, slop pails, etc. Xearh^ all immigrant 
women need advice, and when the instruction is so put that they 
realize that to be sanitary is to be economical, they waste no time in 
carrying it out. 

VENTILATION. 

The immigrant woman is ignorant of the value of fresh air, and in 
our campaign of education we have to make the mother of a family 
realize that ventilation prevents sickness and that sickness means 
expense before she will attempt to ventilate her home. The educator 
has to create a horror of flies by drawing attention to the flies on 
the filth in the street, and then show how they convey germs into 
the house. Such a thing as ventilating clothing or comforters or 
pillows is unknown, and the educator shows that unheard-of things 
are possible by assisting at the first bed cleaning. 

. 7 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 



HYGIENE. 



When I questioned, an Italian woman, who regularly swept the 
dust from the floor into a cupboard, about her sweeping in the old 
country, she replied ; 

At home I take a pail of water and a broom and wash and sweep everything 
out of doors, because the floor is stone. But here the inspector will not let me 
sweep into the hall, and when I used a pail of water it ran through into the 
flat below ; so I sweep into the cupboard. 

It never occurred to her to take the dust up in a dustpan. Many 
women who are clean about their homes are not clean about their 
persons, and in this connection the educator frequently finds herself 
confronted with superstition. For example, Ruthenians will not wash 
the top of a child's head at birth nor until afte^r the second birthday, 
and a pregnant mother will not take a bath. It is difficult to get her 
to wash more than her face and hands, and all this because of a 
fear of being bewitched. Some believe they have been bewitched, 
and in fear of death they refuse to clean or comb their hair. Per- 
sonal service on the part of the educator is necessary to demonstrate 
the methods of personal cleanliness. The hot, weary mother of a 
large family Avas won for all time when the educator donned an 
apron and bathed the young children, instructing the mother in 
every detail of the bath and in the care of the hair and that of the 
nails. Many times a week the educator finds that a bath for the 
baby is the introduction to further instruction in household matters. 
The immigrant girls are urged to seek the beauty of perfect cleanli- 
ness and to shun the rouge pot. As the educator becomes more 
closely acquainted with the family and wins the confidence of the 
mother she finds opportunities to teach sex hygiene and to urge 
mothers to teach their young daughtjers. The importance of privacy 
in their homes is emphasized to induce modesty and high standards 
of morality. This may mean fewer boarders and less money saved, 
perhaps, but a daughter's purity preserved counterbalances the finan- 
cial loss. I think we never sufficiently realize what the lack of 
privacy is answerable for. 

FOODS. 

Among the many difficulties presenting themselves to immigrant 
mothers, none is greater than that of food. Bread and coffee three 
times a day and soup once a day is the standard diet of the average 
immigrant. The women are quite ignorant of the many foods they 
see displayed in stores, and they hate to acknowledge their igno- 
rance. This, coupled with their fear of spending more than is nec- 
essary, is probably accountable for the meager diet. After learning 
the income of the family, the educator advises about the proportion 



DOMESTIC EDUCATION. 9 

which should be set aside each week for rent, fuel, clothing, food, etc. 
T^^ien the amount available for food is determined, the woman is 
advised as to the best meals she can provide for that amount. It is 
necessary to impress upon her that economy is not getting the cheap- 
est, but getting the best results for the least money. Women are 
often taken in groups to the markets and taught how and what to 
buy. The educator teaches food principles in a simple way. 

HOME NURSING. 

I think all agree that no girl, no matter what her nationality, ought 
to marry without some knowledge of simple home nursing and 
emergency work, for emergencies arise which must be dealt with 
before the arrival of a physician. Simple home nursing must be in- 
cluded in domestic education. I have made an entry into many homes 
by going home with a child found crying in the street with a cut 
on the leg, arm, or face, or a badly bruised thumb or toe. Cleansing 
and bandaging the injured member offers an excellent opportunity 
for suggesting to the mother how much trouble is saved by keeping 
on hand and in one place strips of old, clean linen, a small bottle of 
peroxide, and a jar of simple ointment. They should be taught also 
how to administer an emetic and the antidotes for the poisons, 
especially potash, which they commonly have in their homes. 

The prospective mother is usually very ignorant as to how to care 
for herself, and to no one is the domestic educator more welcome than 
the woman looking forward to confinement in a land with strange 
customs. If the woman can be persuaded to allow the district nurse 
to visit her, the educator leaves all instructions to the nurse, but it is 
seldom that the immigrant woman will allow the nurse to take charge 
of her case, because of her drea.d of male physicians. In some homes 
a male physician in attendance at childbirth would mean terrible 
trouble. The ordinary midwife gives little or no prenatal instruc- 
tion; so the educator must do it. As before stated, it is often diffi- 
cult to overcome superstition and prejudices. The midwife's serv- 
ices are ended when the baby is 3 or 4 days old, and there is a very 
easy access to the woman's heart at this time, through baby welfare 
work. 

SEWING. 

Most immigrant women know how to sew a little, but the}'^ do not 
know how to select materials, nor how to cut to the best advantage. 
I have found many women who can make a very presentable gar- 
ment, but provide no means of fastening, merely using pins. Upon 
inquiry, I have discovered that buttonholes are " only for rich folks, 
and hooks and eyes get rusty." The educator impresses upon the 
women economy in buying; she tries to get them to plan garments 
16563°— 13 2 



10 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

that are both durable and attractive, and not to purchase tawdry 
finery. 

CONCLUSION. 

I have been asked many times if this work is not much the same as 
district nursing. It is not. I was district nurse for four years in 
a district composed entirely of immigrants of all races, and during 
those years I saw daily the need of this instruction in domestic edu- 
cation. Time and time again I wished to teach a woman how to 
sew, bake, clean, and buy ; and to advise her how to adapt herself to 
conditions surrounding her, but I could not. There is no time in the 
busy day of a visiting nurse to do these things, however strong her 
desire. 

Diplomacy must be used to get into homes ; a thorough knowledge 
of conditions must be gained; dignity must be maintained which 
allows no familiarity and yet is absolutely friendly. These things 
are essential to the domestic educator, and so is a knowledge of 
nursing, of symptoms, of foods, and of sewing, and an ability to 
make substitutes for things necessary from what is at hand ; and last, 
but not least, there must be the desire and power to give personal 
service, to do things, and not to instruct only. 



TEACHING IMMIGRANT MOTHERS PROPER FOOD. 

Miss Winifred Gibbs, 
'New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. 

The New York Association for Improving the Condition of the 
Poor has, among its other educational activities, built up a depart- 
ment for teaching home economy, with special attention to proper 
food. The work is not confined to immigrants, but much of interest 
has developed in working among the foreign born, particularly 
Italians. The working basis of all the teaching is the actual income 
of the family. The mother, whether native or immigrant, is taught 
first to face her problem squarely, and then to work out the best solu- 
tion. With the immigrant mothers this teaching involves instruc- 
tion in adapting themselves to new conditions. The women are 
taught the principles of good housekeeping, what it means to main- 
tain a high standard of living in a home, and then are led gradually 
to the point of doing their best to maintain this high standard. 
Response is eager, and results during the six years have been most 
satisfactory. The following case is cited as an illustration. The 
home-economy teacher visited a family very recently arrived in this 
country and found that the 2-year-old child was suffering from 
rickets and had never walked. Inquiry as to its food brought forth 
the information that the baby was fed precisely as were the adult 



DOMESTIC EDUCATION. 11 

members of the family, the chief food being macaroni. A course 
of lessons was immediately begun, and as no member of the family 
could speak English the work was done by demonstration and 
through an interpreter. Before the teacher left, the child was begin- 
ning to step. Six months after her visits had been discontinued the 
father met the district visitor, and the following conversation en- 
sued: Man: "My God, you should see my baby." Visitor: "What 
is the matter with the baby? " Man: " He run, he jump, he strong, 
he fat." Visitor: " Do you know what brought this about? " Man: 
" Sure ; the cook." 

All of this work is done in accordance with the principles of sound 
relief-giving. Great care is taken to realize the family as a whole 
and never to let the needs of an individual interfere with the family 
welfare. 

As the work is planned for the future, the department will include 
teachers in diet and cooking, teachers in sewing, and a staff of prac- 
tical demonstrators of cleanliness, the association's visiting house- 
wives. It is believed that this work has a distinct place side by side 
with many other activities that are planned to bring about social 
betterment. 



THE TRAINING OF THE DOMESTIC EDUCATOR. 

I. — By Miss Helen Kinne, 
Teachers College, New York Ciiy. 

The work of the domestic educator is still in its pioneer stage, and 
it seems impossible to state definitely just what the training for such 
work should include. At this time the success of the work is due 
to the native power and efficiency of the women engaged in it. When 
we pass the pioneer stage in any educational movement and propose 
a formal system of training we are confronted by the danger of 
becoming academic. While I can indicate in a general way a scheme 
for a possible course of study, I feel that this is an opinion that is 
not altogether scientific. It is evident that any sj^stem of training 
must be directed to meet the needs of the immigrant women. It is 
equally obvious that this training is not by any means entirely on 
the material side. We have to create ideals, to give a standard of 
living, to introduce the woman to the society in which she lives, and 
to make her a better woman. 

The field of work for the domestic educator in training seems to 
divide itself naturally into three parts. First, the training in prac- 
tical lines. Miss Gibbs is giving at Teachers College a course in 
economic cookery well adapted for the purpose under discussion. To 
this might be added other courses of a similar nature in house- 
wifery, sanitation, mending, etc. There might be other work in 



12 EDUCATIOlSr OF THE IMMIGKANT. 

making even a small home beautiful, and possibly some work in 
gardening for those immigrants where a small plat of land is avail- 
able. Equally important is a second group of studies to be classed 
under social science. This would include a study of the whole immi- 
grant problem and our own civic conditions. Too often young 
women in social work attempt to introduce the newcomer to condi- 
tions with which she herself is not familiar. Most important of all, 
perhaps, is the third section — actual work in the field as an appren- 
tice under the direction of one of the able women already working in 
immigrant homes. This field work can not be stressed too much. 

Before any definite system of training can be developed we need 
a thoroughgoing and scientific investigation of this very question. 
This is the burden of my message to-day. No better service could be 
rendered at present in studying this matter than the appointment of 
an able woman, trained in investigation, in sympathy with the work 
and in touch with the best in educational methods, who would have 
at least a year's study of this problem in the field. She should collect 
and organize facts in regard to work of this type all over the country. 
Her investigation would also include a study of what Columbia Uni- 
versity, the School of Philanthropy, and other institutions offer to 
the intending domestic educator. Such a report would form a basis 
for planning a well- organized and effective system of training for the 
domestic educator. 



II. — By Miss Mabel H. Kittredge, 

Association of Practical Home-Making Centers, New York City. 

No one has ever achieved anything without a model. The artist 
who later may do original work begins by copying; the musician 
first becomes saturated with others' music and then composes music 
of his own. We forget to give our immigrants a home to copy. The 
work of going into their homes and explaining how to sweep and 
how to use the sink is necessary, but they should have in their minds 
a picture of an American home — a model home in an apartment 
house. I should like to have such a home on Ellis Island. I should 
like to have the painted walls, the bare floors, the simple furnish- 
ings, the black kitchen stove, the open plumbing, the order. I should 
like this to be the first impression our immigrants receive. 

I should like another model home to be in the neighborhood of 
every immigrant — a place where lessons in cooking, cleaning, care of 
the baby are given all day and all the evening — a place where the 
sink is studied, where the American stove is taken apart and studied, 
and where girls cook a dinner in an orderly kitchen, all the time 
learning food values. 



IN LABOR CAMPS AND ISOLATED COMMUNITIES. 13 

In 1912 there were in the New York elementary schools 388,000 
girls, every one of whom should have seen in her school building a 
model of a home; now she never sees a window washed or a floor 
swept. A few at the end of the course have a little cooking, but 
344,500 had not even cooking last year. In the model home in every 
school our girls should work; then, like the artist, when their day 
for original work comes they have a standard, a model, an ideal. 

What would I suggest as training for domestic-science teachers? 
To get into the heat of the battle. It is not fair to the immigrant 
child that she should be used as a lesson for the inexperienced, but 
there are ways to study without exploiting the child. Have these 
model homes and let our student pupils work there under or Avith an 
experienced teacher. Do not have these model flats necessarily in 
close proximity to a college* Let the pupils go where they are — in 
the heart of the immigrant population. These girls may not be 
wise enough at first to go to the foreigner's home and suggest im- 
provements, but surely they know what an American home should 
be. Let them make a model and then invite the foreigner to enter. 

To work at the problem, not in a scientific school only, but on the 
battlefield — that is the kind of training our teachers need, and each 
of the schools in a foreign section is an opening, and every model 
flat in New York is an opening. 



n. IMMIGRANTS IN LABOR CAMPS AND ISOLATED 

COMMUNITIES. 

I. — By Joseph Mayper, 
New York State Bureau of Industries and Immigration. 

The problem for discussion is one that the average layman is not 
familiar with. The residents of the State and the residents of the 
country have but little interest in the labor-camp problem, because 
it is far removed from their daily lives. We know that the immi- 
grant arrives at Ellis Island, is admitted to the United States, and 
goes to some crowded city. What becomes of him from the moment 
he lands in the city is something that we have never systematically 
followed up to any great extent until about two and a half years 
ago, when the New York State Bureau of Industries and Immigra- 
tion was created as a component part of the department of labor. 
One of the functions of this bureau was to investigate the living 
and social conditions existing in our labor camps. We had a very 
small staff, but we soon found the existence of degrading conditions. 

We can perhaps divide the general discussions of labor camps 



14 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGEANT. 

into three parts: First, the general living conditions of the immi- 
grant in the camp; second, the educational facilities, if any, that 
are provided for him; and third, the power to exploit him that is 
given to the padrone or contractor in charge of the camp. The 
bureau of industries and immigration, as a State organization, has 
devoted most of its attention to the first of these. 

I am glad to state that a bill is now before the governor which it 
is hoped will, to a great extent, create sanitary conditions in our 
camps. This bill is the one introduced by the special public health 
commission. As a result of the bureau investigators' testimony be- 
fore this commission, they incorporated in their bill this provision : 
The State is to be divided into 20 districts, with a sanitary super- 
visor in direct charge of each, acting under the orders of the public 
health council. One of his specific duties is to inspect all labor camps 
and isolated communities within his district, and enforce the sani- 
tary code adopted by the council for the regulation of such camps. 
I am glad to state also that we have been instrumental in recom- 
mending to the public health commission a series of minimum sani- 
tary requirements for these camps which will probably be adopted 
when that department is reorganized. Hereafter, when we inspect 
a camp we shall no longer have to ask the padrone, Will you please 
put a garbage can in front of this place ? The matter will be reported 
immediately to the State health department, and it will be a simple 
matter to compel the padrone to provide sanitary living conditions. 

The second phase of the immigTant problem in the labor camp 
relates to education. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the 
law which has just been enacted, authorizing the creation of tem- 
porary schools in labor camps where the construction of public works 
is going on. The State department of education will cooperate 
with us, and we shall cooperate with them, in creating temporary 
schools for adults in English, civics, and citizenship. These schools 
will undoubtedly be established wherever a large number of foreign- 
ers are congregated. 

The third problem is that of the padrone. We have not been able 
to solve this, but we are hopeful that the time will soon come when 
his pernicious activities will be properly regulated. The creation 
of public free employment agencies would tend to do away with the 
padrone. The padrone at present obtains his laborers in the large 
cities and brings them to these isolated communities under mis- 
leading promises. He tells them that they will be paid a certain 
amount per day, that their living quarters will be of the best, and 
that the sanitary provisions of the camp are excellent. Once the 
laborer is in the camp he is entirely at the mercy of the padrone. 
He has no funds and can not leave ; so that no matter what condi- 
tions he finds, he can do nothing to change or remedy them. He 



IN LABOR CAMPS AND ISOLATED COMMUNITIES. 15 

must remain. Wages are paid every two weeks, or once a month, 
which keeps him at the camp for at least a month, or even longer. 
We have advocated the creation of free employment agencies, but 
there has been a great deal of opposition. However, this proposed 
legislation is now under discussion and is bound to come within the 
next few years. 



II. — By Jane E. Robbins, 

Society for Italian Immigrants. 

My subject takes us first to the mountains of Abruzzi, near Chieti, 
where we find a strong young man used to patient digging ; he may or 
may not know his alphabet, but he is sturdy, intelligent, cheerful, 
kind, and used to practicing great economy. He has probably four 
or five brothers. The family is very poor; there is no work for him 
at home, and he comes to America to work for a few years before 
going into the army. There are many like him ; in a remote moun- 
tain town of Scanno, 17 miles from a railroad, I was not able to find, 
when I was there two years ago, a single school boy who was not 
planning to come over here. " Where is that woman going," I 
casually asked a 10-year-old Italian boy, as I saw a handsome woman 
passing us in Scanno. " She is going down to the lake to talk to 
God about her son," was the answer ; " all the women go down to the 
church by the lake to talk to God about their sons in America." 

The first attempt to organize a night school in a contract-labor 
camp was made by Miss Sarah W. Moore, in Aspinwall, Pa., where 
many young men from the Abruzzi and from Calabria were at work. 
Miss Moore had been eager for several years to start an evening 
school in a labor camp, and she went to Aspinwall at the instance of 
Mr. De Luca, a member of a firm engaged upon the construction of a 
filtration plant. The contractors gave Miss Moore the use of a 
shanty in which she opened, on Monday, September 5, 1905, an ex- 
perimental evening school for day laborers. The men began to 
register their names the first night, and within two days 40 men had 
come into the school. Miss Moore wrote to me, as chairman of the 
camp school committee for the society for Italian immigrants, a 
glowing account of the beauty of the country around the camp, the 
kindness of the volunteer teachers who had come from all the dif- 
ferent churches in Aspinwall, and of the great eagerness of the men 
to learn English. 

In spite of feebleness and even an actual illness. Miss Moore clung 
to the evening school, encouraged the teachers, inspired the towns- 
people to enthusiastic activity and trained her kind-hearted boys to 
reverence for their teachers. After she left the school, two young 



16 EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGRANT. 

women teachers came from another town, and went into that desolate 
camp and continued their work. 

Miss Moore was instrumental in having a bill passed by the Penn-' 
sylvania Legislature permitting the use of schools for the education 
of adults whenever there was a demand for night schools. 

Mr. De Luca was much interested in one of the Aspinwall water 
boys. The father of the boy, years before, had stood in the path of 
an express train too paralyzed to move, and Mr. De Luca had pulled 
him off the track. Those who know something of the gratitude 
natural to Italians can imagine the devotion to Mr. De Luca which 
this man had taught to his son. The boy came every night to school, 
soon mastered both reading and writing, and was given a responsible 
position on the works. Mr. De Luca said to me that the school had 
proved itself worth while in the education of this one boy. 

From the neighbors' point of view, the school was of great value. 
The president of the chamber of commerce in Pittsburgh had his 
summer home in the vicinity, and after the camp was established he 
had closed his place because of his fear of the large number of Italian 
laborers. After the school opened, however, he felt that he could 
bring his family to Aspinwall. His daughters even helped to 
arrange a patriotic festa for the school, and Miss Moore was allowed 
the use of the beautiful grounds. I have a picture of her teaching 
a group of youngsters to sketch the trees. These boys are kept 
away from the vicious and demoralizing influences which in many 
camps prevent young laborers from becoming valuable additions to 
American life. 

I have described somewhat at length the camp at Aspinwall for two 
reasons: First, because I wish to pay this tribute, which is all too 
slight, to the memory of Miss Sarah Moore, who, notwithstanding 
age and feebleness, did this wonderful pioneer work in spite of 
apparently insurmountable difficulties, and second, because this was 
the first work of the kind in the United States. 

When the work at Aspinwall was over, Miss Moore, after experi- 
mental classes in three other localities, turned her attention to the 
Catskill water supply. Commissioner Chadwick, chairman of the 
board of water supply, has always been deeply interested in education 
and was able to grasp at once the importance of Miss Moore's ideas. 

The contractors at Browns Station had carefully provided for the 
housing and sanitation of a large camp which was to last for about 
10 years. The Italians and negroes in large numbers were estab- 
lished in boarding houses, and the fact that the law compels an eight- 
hour day on such contracts gave them much leisure time. The con- 
tractors provided a four-room school building, to be used by the 
negro children and foreign-born children in the day and by the men 
at night. 



IN LABOR CAMPS AND ISOLATED COMMUNITIES. 17 

In the spring of 1908 Miss Moore opened a school, and it has been 
in session 12 months of the year, five nights of the week. The school 
has varied in attendance from 30 or 40 to 70 or 80. 

Miss Moore found that there were very few schoolbooks suitable 
for night school use, and collected material for a primer called 
" English-Italian Language Book." No publisher could imagine 
that such a book would ever be in demand, so that it was necessary 
for a friend to pay a publisher in order to induce him to bring out 
this primer. The book now pays a royalty to the Society for Italian 
Immigrants, and it has been followed by similar books published by 
the other schoolbook concerns. Miss Moore collected her material 
for this book when sitting beside the dam and listening to the orders 
given by the foreman to the men. 

In the school there are generally two or three classes, one for the 
more advanced men and one for beginners. They are taught English 
speech, reading, writing, and something of arithmetic and geography. 
The boys who were in day school four years ago and are now over 14 
come to evening school, and the paymaster encourages their attendance 
by requiring a report each pay day as to whether or not they have 
been to night school. 

One man about 30 years old who reads English very well indeed 
told me that he is not able to read or write one word of Italian. 
Many of the men who come here without knowing the alphabet have 
very good minds, but have lived in communities where the schools 
have not yet been thoroughly organized. 

As an attempt has been made to keep the school from seeming dull 
to the men after their heavy day's labor, picture postal cards are used 
in a radiopticon to show something of America. In a camp school 
which I organized last summer I found that a phonograph with 
Italian records was helpful, and I used singing as much as possible. 
We had at least one Italian song every night, and the men learned 
to sing Old Black Joe, My Old Kentucky Home, and America before 
they could either speak or write English. 

In visiting the camp school at Valhalla, near White Plains, con- 
ducted by the North American Civic League for Immigrants, I found 
that the teachers felt that the school could be of great value in pre- 
venting the formation of the drinking habit. These young laborers 
would never become dnmkards in Italy. The school at Valhalla usas 
the individual teaching as far as possible, and the men learn rapidly. 
Those of you who have studied languages know how much one gains 
by being near the teacher. They have a Saturday night dance for 
the young people, and the school is opened on Sunday from 10 a. m. 
to 10 p. m. for quiet games and for any form of simple recreation. 
In the early days at Browns Station one of the stonemasons wrote 
16563°— 13 3 



18 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

a play in Italian and acted as coach for the men in presenting it. It 
was given with great success. 

Personally I am a great believer in having the schools as much like 
a club as possible, and I believe also in using the home language 
of the men. I hope to see college men fitting themselves for this work. 



III. EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD. 

I. — By William H. Maxwell, 
Superintendent of Public Schools, New York City. 

The character of immigration has changed very greatly during the 
past 25 or 30 years. During the first three-quarters of the nineteenth 
century and very largely during the last quarter our immigrants came 
from the British Islands, from Germany, and from countries border- 
ing on the Baltic Sea. During the past quarter century, however, the 
great center from which our immigrants come has changed from the 
shores of the Baltic Sea to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and 
now, instead of people coming into this country who speak English, 
the great bulk of our immigration comes from Italy, Austria, the 
Balkan Peninsula, and Eussia. 

It would be idle to compare either the physical or the mental power 
of the people who come to us from the shores of the Mediterranean 
with the people who come from the shores of the Baltic, But we do 
know this, that the majority of the people who now come to us have 
little akin to our language; they have little akin to our mode of 
thought; they have little akin to our customs; and they have little 
akin to our traditions. They come here and are planted in an 
environment totally different from that to which they have been 
accustomed. It is a great business of the department of education in 
this city [New York] — I shall not say its greatest business — ^to train 
the immigrant child from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to be- 
come a good American citizen. I shall not say anything about how 
well we have performed that task. I wish merely to point out one or 
two lines along which the education of the immigrant child must be 
conducted if it is to be in any measure successful. It seems pertinent 
to say that much greater attention might be given to this matter by 
the immigration authorities than is now given. We find children who 
are illiterate, never having had any education at all. That does not 
matter, but we find also that many children have been admitted who 
are mentally defective, and they come into our schools in that condi- 
tion. We find many children who are physically defective or dis- 
eased, and they come into our schools with these defects. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGR-VNT CHILD. 19 

It seems to me that the very first essential step is to prevent the 
immigration of any child who has not the normal powers of a child 
or is affected by disease. The attention of the United States Govern- 
ment should be strongly directed to this. Even when the normal 
child comes to our schools the problems of his training are many. In 
the first place we must teach him to take care of his health, so that he 
may become physically strong and \igorous. In the second place we 
must give him the powder of using the English language. In the 
third place we should give him as good an intellectual education as 
his limited time will permit. Then we must teach him how to play, 
and we ought to teach him the rights and duties of an American 
citizen. All of these matters are included in the proper education of 
the immigrant child. 

II. — By John H. Haaren, 

Associate Superintendent, New York City Puhlic Schools. 

The instruction of the immigrant child is a problem with which 
few nations have had to deal in any but a meager way. Colonies 
are usually settled by homogeneous bodies of people agreeing in 
language, customs, political ideas, and religious beliefs. Settled 
countries generally receive accretions of small bodies which are 
readily absorbed. For a time, however, these bodies naturally seek 
association with those who have come before them and who have, to a 
great extent, adopted the language and customs, as well as the politi- 
cal ideas, of the country in which they have sought a home. As long 
as the immigration is camparatively small in quantity, the problem is 
not serious. But when what may be called " the saturation point " 
has been reached, the most serious consideration must be given to the 
problem. Such a point has been reached in some parts of the United 
States, especially in New York City. 

The school, as one of the instruments of civilization, must take its 
part in solving the problem that has been precipitated by the great 
immigration of peoples who differ from the great mass of our popu- 
lation, not only in language, but in customs, political ideals, and to a 
considerable extent in religion. The freedom in the exercise of re- 
ligious duties and practices enjoyed under the laws of our country 
eliminates one element in the problem, save where a few well- 
intentioned, perhaps, but narrows-minded zealots imagine that to be- 
come a good American citizen the immigTant must eradicate all the 
ideals and sentiments that have characterized the race from which 
he came. Such people in their zeal forget that the immigrant fre- 
quently brings his contribution to enrich our civilization. The things 
of the higher kind — the spirituality, the reverence for authority, the 
love of art and music — are valuable to soften the materialism that 



20 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

has accompanied our great advance in prosperity, and they should not 
be crushed out in the attempt to remake the immigrant. 

The school must of necessity assume the duty of instructing the 
immigrant in the language, customs, and political ideals of our coun- 
try. It does not take much reflection to conclude that the problem 
is not merely one of language teaching. Bilingual teaching is not 
peculiar to us. Many countries have had it for years. It is a live 
problem to-day in France, Germany, Belgium, and in every country 
in which the official language differs from that usually spoken by 
the people. But the problem of instructing the immigrant is some- 
thing more than language teaching. That the problem is met to a 
considerable extent by our schools is seen in the intense expression of 
patriotism to be encountered in pupils in the most congested portions 
of our city, inhabited exclusively by foreign-speaking people. 

But these sentiments can not be immediately instilled into the child 
who has just arrived from Europe. Great numbers of children are 
entered in school within 24 hours after their arrival, and the best 
efforts of the teacher must be concerned with them. 

It is hardly more than a dozen years since these children began to 
attend our schools in large numbers. At about this time the problem 
of immigration assumed its enormous proportions. At first the chil- 
dren drifted into school and were put into the regular classes. The 
despair of the teacher charged to instruct large classes in which were 
a number of j)upils unable to understand a word of English may 
easily be imagined. At first it was assumed that since a knowledge 
of English had to be acquired, the place for non-English-speaking 
pupils was in the lower grades. Consequently, the congestion in these 
grades increased enormously. Then, it came out occasionally that 
some of these children had received considerable instruction in their 
own country, and that a knowledge of the English language was the 
only obstacle to their educational progress. Incidentally, the en- 
forcement of the compulsory education law became difficult. Some 
of the children found it irksome to go over the lessons with little 
children, and it was easily discovered that a knowledge of English, 
such as it might be, was to be acquired in ways and associations not 
connected with school. Then the so-called " C class " was formed for 
the sole purpose of enabling pupils to attain a knowledge of English 
sufficient to understand what was said and to express themselves so 
as to be understood. 

The formation of classes, however, depends on teachers that are 
available, and when the new classes were projected, there were no 
teachers. It then became necessary to formulate directions, so that 
the classes might be started, and to rely on the direct supervision 
over these classes by those who had to meet the problem. A confer- 
ence of superintendents was called, and a committee was delegated to 



EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGEANT CHILD. 21 

prepare the necessarj^ instructions that might serve as a beginning. 
The classes progressed and fuller instructions became necessary. So 
a new pamphlet of instructions, or syllabus, was prepared by three 
district superintendents, two of whom had served on the first com- 
mittee. In this syllabus a fuller exposition of the teaching of C 
classes was made, and there were model lessons which might serve 
as a guide in conducting the work of instruction. Teachers began 
to study the subject of instruction with great interest, and to make a 
specialty of such instruction. The second syllabus has been out- 
grown. There has been a demand for it throughout the country, 
and there are now many books treating of the subject of teaching 
English to foreigners. None of these books has been written by any 
of the three superintendents of this city who have been engaged in 
the formulation of the instruction, because these three men have 
kept steadily in mind the purpose of the C classes to get the children 
into the regular grades as soon as they can profit by that instruction. 

Teachers are conservative, and putting a new plan or system into 
operation is attended with many difficulties; hence the number of C 
classes is relatively small. In Manhattan there are 62 of them, 2 
in the Bronx, and 17 in Brooklyn. There are no C classes in Queens 
or Richmond. 

It must not be supposed that the instruction of the immigrant 
child is disregarded where there are no C classes. Fortunately, the 
pupil-teachers of the training schools spend a term of five months 
in practice of teaching in various schools. Such pupil-teachers are 
usually assigned for a full term to a school; and while they take a 
regular class, the teacher who is relieved often takes charge of a 
group of child immigrants. Such instruction is not as efficient as 
that in the regular C class, but it serves its purpose fairly well Avhen 
the number of pupils is too small for a class. 

The course of study for C classes is left entirely to the principal of 
the school, and the greatest freedom is allowed in the selection of the 
material for instruction. Language is the main subject, and spoken 
language receives the greater part of the time. The teacher naturally 
divides her class into groups, and some written work must be done. 
Then the other forms of expression are employed, such as drawing 
and music. Every employment has its vocabulary. Physical exercise 
is not neglected. All the instruction is not limited to groups. The 
conversational exercises are usually general exercises, with the idea 
that the children learn much from their companions. The life and 
interest of the conversational exercises are generally striking and 
convincing. 

In addition to the general conversational exercises there is theme 
work, which consists in a series of actions performed and described, 



22 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

leading to a final action known as the " theme." Teachers are ex- 
pected to devise themes that may be developed in the classroom, and 
great ingenuity is frequently shown. The purpose of the theme is, 
of course, to illustrate actions and to give exercise in the use of verbs. 
Apart from the practice in this difficult part of our language, the 
theme work is a part of the objective teaching of language. 



III. — By Cecil A. Kidd, 
District Superintendent, Neic York City Public Schools. 

The teaching of the English language to the pupils in the C classes 
can be made effective and interesting, first, by concrete objects and 
pictures; second, by phonics; third, ear training; fourth, singing, 
memory gems ; fifth, seat work. 

The first necessity for the successful treatment of the C pupil is 
to inspire him with confidence and from the very first moment have 
him feel that he is learning something which fits him for his new 
surroundings. In order to do this, there must be an abundance of 
concrete material at hand — a storehouse, as it were, of objects and 
pictures. The objects may be only toys, but they serve the purpose. 

These objects should be arranged so that things belonging together 
should be placed near each other : 

A cow, a milk pail, a farmer, a rake, a hoe, a shovel, a horse, a 
wagon ; sheep, grass, wool ; birds' nests, twigs ; cups, saucers, plates, 
knives, forks, spoons; various fabrics; weights and measures; a 
broom, a dustpan, a dustbrush. 

The various domestic animals can be cut from children's picture 
books and mounted on oak tag and hung around the room. The 
fruits and vegetables in their natural colorings, from advertising 
catalogues, if cut out and mounted, are helpful. The children know 
the names of these objects and pictures in their native tongue and 
are anxious to hear the English word for the same and thus recog- 
nize an old friend in a new dress. They have something to talk 
about, and the timidity which prevents the children from trying to 
speak is in a great measure obviated when they know they have 
something to say. 

The parts of the body are pointed to and named. Then followed 
up with " This is my hand " or " my head," as the case may be. 

One of the early lessons to be taught in the C class is the replying 
to the following questions: What is your name? Where do you 
live? How old are you? What is your father's name? Where do 
you go to school ? What is the name of your class ? What is your 
teacher's name ? What is the number of your room ? 

Insist on a full statement every time. This gives the necessary 
drill in repeating in the proper form. 



EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGRANT CHILD. 23 

The teachers at frequent intervals should repeat also, for the pur- 
pose of a correct model of tone. Commands should be given and 
children obey the command. This takes some time before all under- 
stand what is wanted. The teacher should perform the act with the 
child at first, and in fact many times. After a command is obeyed, 
several children should be called upon to tell what they did. What 
did he do? Have the children repeat the act and ask what he is 
doing, thus getting the various forms of the verb. 

Phonics. — From the verj^ first day there must be phonic work and 
plenty of exercise in ear training. The phonic work is by far the 
most important work in the C class. Much time must be spent on 
the phonograms which do not occur in the mother tongue of the 
pupils. 

Seat work. — Seat work must be prepared and used to supplement 
the oral work according to the varying abilities of the C pupils. 

No matter what degree of advancement has been made in their 
own tongue, all that has thus far been attempted is necessary for all 
in the oral work. 

Seat work may consist of matching colors, laying sticks, piecing 
out words from cut-up material, putting in the blank space the proper 
word — is or are., selecting from their cut-up work all the words be- 
longing to the same family and arranging them in columns or piles. 
Pages from magazines may be distributed and the children told to 
underline all the words they know. 

Children should not be taken out of a C class as soon as they know 
a few words of English. In the long run, they do better by remain- 
ing with the same teacher until they are well equipped with the 
numberless little things that the teacher of a regular class can not 
take time for. 

Arithmetic receives little attention in a C class until the last six 
weeks of the term, and then the children are all eagerness about it, 
and do so much better than if they have to struggle along with it before 
they have English enough at their command to understand what the 
teacher wants or words enough to tell what they want to say them- 
selves. Counting, however, is used from the beginning. Civics and 
local geography are taught with great advantage in the C class. 
The children are always much interested. The teacher of a C class 
must be very resourceful to make the work a success. 



IV. — By Joseph H. Wade. 
District Superintendent, Neio York City Public Schools. 

There are three types of problems to be met with in the education 
of the immigrant child — the purely educational, the civic, and the 
moral. 



24 EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGRANT. 

Many of the children seem to be lawless, but it is not because they 
are really lawless, but because they do not know what the law is. 
Also, many of these children are seemingly ungoverned; they are 
excitable, nervous, and very tenacious of what they consider their 
rights; but if placed in the class of a good disciplinarian, the chil- 
dren in the C classes are the easiest children in the school. 

When large numbers of immigrant children are placed in the same 
school, they should be segregated if possible, the Jewish children 
being placed in one C class, and the Italian in another, for they 
differ radically. The Jewish child is more ambitious than the Italian 
child for learning. The teacher can get more assistance from the 
parents of the Jewish child than from the parents of the Italian 
child. The Jewish children show results in a very short time, but 
with the Italian children it takes longer. 

The second type of problem, the civic, seems very well developed, 
but we know as teachers that it is not always so. We need the active 
cooperation, first of all, of the other civic departments ; secondly, of 
the business people of the city; and thirdly, of the general public. 
What is the use of teaching these children about city ordinances if 
these children see them violated day after day without any punish- 
ment? The only way in which we can train the immigrant child 
to a realization of what he owes to the city is to make him feel that 
these laws passed for the good of the city must be obeyed, and that 
if not obeyed, sooner or later there must come a punishment. 

The third type is the moral type. We must put before the children 
whenever possible that the greatest thing we are doing for them is 
not in teaching them English or in teaching them how to make a 
livelihood, but in teaching them to respect their fathers and their 
mothers, and to have the right kind of reverence for home. We must 
continually bring this before the immigrant child. The board of edu- 
cation aims to do it by three methods : First, by the evening public 
school; second, by the parents' meetings; and third, by the public 
lectures. I find that the parents' meetings are probably the most 
valuable means. We have in our district the Parents' League, which 
has spread all over the city. During the past two years I have spoken 
to 22 meetings of Italian parents in English, and I have always been 
surprised to find how closely the Italians will follow a person who 
speaks in English, and how seemingly they will understand what he 
is saying when he is speaking to them of their duties to their children 
and of their children's duties to them. At these parents' meetings 
we should always have some speakers who can speak in the language 
of the parents, and these people should present to them always in the 
strongest language the highest type of civic duty to the city. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD. 2$ 

RECREATION FOR THE IMMIGRANT. 

Edward W. Stitt, 
District Superintendent, New York City Public Schools. 

An ideal community can come only from individual improvement. 
When therefore it happens that the community is a metropolis con- 
taining a population of over five millions, the efforts toward social 
progress and regeneration to a better civic life become a great prob- 
lem. It is further complicated when we remember that last year 
immigrants arrived in our city from 98 different countries and that 
within the boundaries of our five boroughs 66 languages are spoken. 

Why is play a necessity ? 

First in importance are the evil or dangerous influences of the 
street. By these I do not mean only the physical dangers, but also 
the great danger to the morals of our children and young people 
caused by low vaudeville theaters, supersensational moving-picture 
shows, and the degi-ading tendencies of many public dance halls. 

A second important question is. Where shall the play be carried 
on? In reply I must urge that a larger use of our school buildings 
be permitted. At nights parents and adults should have club privi- 
leges. The playgrounds used during the day are equipped as gym- 
nasiums at night, and thousands of working people Avho are too 
tired to attend evening school are finding wholesome advantages in 
attending the recreation centers now open in 56 school buildings. 
Quiet game and library rooms are provided, and chess, checkers, 
dominos, authors, and other such games prove very attractive. 
Once a week classes in social dancing are held, and the young men 
and women who have no opportunity at home for social enjoyment 
are being reclaimed from the commercial dance hall. Mayor Gaynor 
recently wrote : 

All young people want to dance, and, mark my words, they will dance. There- 
fore it becomes the duty of every city to see that its young people dance in 
the right places. The gymnasiums of the public-school buildings are safe 
places. It is to be regretted that, owing to the failure of the board of estimate 
to appropriate sufficient funds, the board of education has been unable to open 
additional buildings as i-ecreation centers. 

Our public-school buildings are usually located in the most congested parts 
of our city and in the various centers of the population, and therefore easily 
reached. It is absurd to have the vast amount of property included under the 
care of the board of education only used for five hours of the usual school day. 

The following are some reasons which may be advanced for public- 
school playgrounds: 

1. To keep the children and young people from the dangers of 
city streets. 

16563°— 13 4 



26 EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGEANT. 

2. To prevent habits of idleness from being .formed by children 
and young people. 

3. To furnish an opportunity for physical development for those 
deprived of the advantages of fresh air and outdoor life of the 
country. 

4. To teach city children to play organized games instead of the 
rough and rowdyish play of the street. 

5. To relieve parents from worrying as to the safety of their chil- 
dren while the former are out working. 

6. To encourage the reading of good books and magazines and the 
playing of quiet games tending toward improvement. 

7. To create an opportunity for the development of the comrade- 
ship which arises from match games, teams, and club life. 

8. To furnish a place in which the morals of the young people 
may be properly safeguarded, as bad language and evil companions 
are forbidden. 

9. To make the children learn to play fairly, and thus instill habits 
of honor and honesty. 

10. Finally, to bring real happiness to many children who, be- 
cause of the lack of proper home advantages, are deprived of the 
pleasures which are the natural right and heritage of children. 

When liberty-loving immigrants approach our beautiful harbor 
their eyes are gladdened by the beautiful Bartholdi statue of " Lib- 
erty Enlightening the World." If, however, that liberty is to be 
a fact and not a dream, it must be founded on a pedestal of a sound, 
complete, and up-to-date education. Ambitious plans may well be 
proposed for the education of the New England community, where 
a large proportion of the school population comes from an ancestry 
well educated, refined, and chivalric, endowed with the patriotic 
memories of Faneuil Hall and Bunker Hill. Compare such an 
endowment of historic and scholastic ability with the poor material 
to be found in many of our cosmopolitan New York schools. In one 
of our buildings on the lower east side, for instance, there are rep- 
resentatives of over 20 different nationalities, and, in fact, only Y per 
cent of American parentage. Half of the children are Italian; 
other nations, represented in smaller ratio, being Eussia, France, 
Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, Koumania, Austria, Greece, Egypt, 
Norway, Poland, and China. In such schools, coming as the pupils 
often do from homes of destitution and not having been baptized 
with the republican spirit of New England, can we expect great 
results? There is a vast difference between the descendant of the 
May-flower and the denizen of Mulberry Street; between the boy 
brought up in the luxury of Back Bay, Boston, and the one brought 
up in the shadow of the Bowery. 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGBANT CHILD. 27 

There is then a most imperative demand that, if we would pre- 
serve the destiny of our Republic, we must aim at the progressive 
and complete education of the immigiant masses of our crowded 
city. Hampered by the problem of cosmopolitan communities and 
overcrowded schoolrooms, we must insist that liberal appropriations 
must always support our school system, and then, with wise leader- 
ship and progressive pedagogy to direct our forces, we shall have 
every hope for the future, and whether our alien boys shall develop 
into men who serve or those who lead, they should be fitted by theii" 
school and recreation center experience to become faithful citizens 
who love our public-school system, who shall honor our flag, and who 
shall ever rejoice in the permanency of American institutions. 



UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT. 

RoBBiNs Oilman, 
Head Worker, University Settlement, Sew York City. 

We must recognize distinctly and keep ever in mind the necessary 
difference between public-school teacher and social Avorker. They 
are not interchangeable terms, for a good teacher is not necessarily 
qualified for social work, or vice versa. The good teacher must, for 
instance, be a disciplinarian if she is to be able to teach in the average 
elementary school. To be a disciplinarian you must be able to rule, 
and that generally means a certain amount of sternness. This is nec- 
essary and proper, and I mean in no way to speak disparagingly of 
the discipline that is not onl}^ required, but actually maintained, in 
our public schools. After a child has been under this admirable 
discipline from 9 to 12 and from 1 to B, it naturally requires relax- 
ation, not only because of psychic fatigue, if you will, but because 
from the pedagogic standpoint its educational diet needs changing, 
and self-expression through free play and close companionship witli 
some one for whom the child has a feeling of 4)ersonal friendship 
seem naturally to be the next course on the menu. The settlement 
offers this course, and the normal child not only relishes it and 
assimilates it well, but thrives and prospers on it. 

In school there is compulsion as to attendance; in the settlement 
there is free choice. The child unconsciously recognizes that no one 
need go to a settlement while every child must go to school. 

At school, in the classroom, order must prevail, and therefore in- 
dividuality and natural emotional expression must be subordinated, 
except within the most general unspecialized limits, to group be- 
havior. At the settlement the reverse is true; only the most general 



28 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGKANT. 

order, rudimentary principles of order, are enforced , and individual- 
ity and natural emotional expression are consciously cultivated. Ex- 
cept in very rare cases a teacher has neither the time nor the energy 
to do much personal work with her scholars. She has too many, in 
the first place, and as a result can not pick out a girl here or a boy 
there for fear of being charged with having favorites. The settle- 
ment worker, on the other hand, because of the small number in an 
average club, can and does, as a regular part of his or her work, get 
into the lives of the children. The relationship is personal, in other 
words. 

The child must and should look upon the teacher and the settle- 
ment worker as two different kinds of persons, and because of this 
distinction the settlement is able to supplement the work of the 
school, and in some instances to undertake work that the school could 
not. A few instances will suffice : 

(1) A principal near me once said that because of the peculiar com- 
plexion of our neighborhood, the settlement — and not the school — 
should form the parents' association of his school. 

(2) An ungovernable boy is put in a " special" class. His teacher 
feels that the prescribed routine is not exactly all that is needed and 
suggests to me that I might have something for the boy to do at the 
settlement. I decided to ask him to act as monitor over a large group 
of children, none of whom he necessarily knew, or none of whom 
knew him. The effect of this responsibility, under those circum- 
stances, clothed the boy in his right mind, and reports come to me 
that he is doing splendidly at school. 

(3) A little girl is brought into the settlement by another little 
girl, who introduces her to me thus : " Oh, Mr. Gilman, this girl can't 
speak English ; she has only been here two weeks and she knows only 
French, Spanish, and Greek." A friendly handshake with my new 
acquaintance practically makes the 6-year-old child my bosom friend. 
My directress of clubs speaks — as she herself says — ^miserable French, 
but at the first sound of something at least approaching what the 
child seems to think is French, two dancing eyes and a most con- 
tagious smile give evidence of comprehension. The home is visited; 
the mother speaks a little French and Spanish and the father a 
little Spanish and Greek. The child tells the parents where "Mad- 
ame " comes from, and the settlement from that time is the guide and 
friend of that family. 

(4) The settlement, through its home visitor, goes into the family 
circle, and where a pair of shoes, or an equally conspicuous and 
necessary article of dress is needed, fills the need after ascertaining to 
complete satisfaction that the family exchequer is depleted. The 
child, or children, thus fitted out can go to school with a feeling of 
self-respect. Such aid is often given as a result of truancy, the 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD. 29 

truant officer having found out that the real cause of absence from 
school is lack of proper clothing. Under such circumstances he feels 
quite justified, and we are glad he does, to ask us to do what our 
meager means will permit to make it possible for the child to attend 
school. 

As long as children continue to be, there will be legitimate work 
for both teacher and social worker to do, independent of each other, 
though cooperating most cordially one with the other. 



COORDINATION OF WELFARE AGENCIES. 

I. — By Margaret Knox, 
Principal, Manhattan PuNic School No. 15. 

The United States Bureau of Immigration should register the 
passports or some other evidence of birth of children under 16 with 
the board of health, in order that the child may have no difficulty in 
obtaining his work certificate when the time comes. The Census 
Bureau may already receive this, but the board of health also should 
have it, as they issue work certificates finally. 

Foreign-born children, when there is doubt concerning age, are 
obliged to write to the country from which they came for proof of 
age. This is expensive and a tedious process, often without result. 

An examining physician at Ellis Island should not only give a 
clean bill of health, but should certify to correct age of children, for 
it is not uncommon for parents to misstate the age of a child in 
order to secure half-fare rate for passage; a 12-year-old child en- 
tered on passport as 10 years old meets' with difficulties two years 
later when he applies for working certificate. 

The Ellis Island authorities should demand that immigrants 
should register their residence within a week after entrance to the 
country. This information in turn should be transmitted to the 
census board and through them to the schools, so that we may notify 
the authorities of children of school age who do not come to school 
immediately. It so often happens that children have been in the 
country several months before being registered, and this again causes 
difficulties when the time comes for taking out employment certifi- 
cates. 

Children between 14 and 16 who enter the country after attending 
school in Europe should be allowed to go to work if the parents 
desire it, but attendance at evening school should be enforced, and 
special classes should be provided for teaching the English language, 
the duties of citizenship, and how to guard against the dangers of a 
gre^t city. 



30 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

I want to make an urgent plea for a visiting teacher or a domestic 
educator as the connecting link between the home and the school. 
She should be a very prominent factor in the education of the im- 
migrant population. The board of health should select as far as 
possible physicians and nurses who speak the language of these 
immigrants. 

It is gratifying that children who are arrested are no longer ar- 
raigned for trial in the same courts with the adult criminals, but 
there should be more juvenile courts, with a sympathetic understand- 
ing of school with the court and court with school. 

The police department could cooperate with the schools in help- 
ing to prevent trunancy, in interfering with games of chance on the 
street, throwing dice, etc., in supervision of haunts of vice, candy 
stores where cigarettes are sold and gambling outfits installed, and 
moving-picture shows where coarse scenes are exhibited. 

The street-cleaning department is giving the best sort of coopera- 
tion in the education of the children by establishing the juvenile 
street-cleaning leagues throughout the city. 

I would suggest that now and then parents and children be 
brought together at lectures where cleanliness and prevention of 
disease, dangers from fire, and clearing of fire escapes, etc., are 
explained. The ignorance of the immigrant adult is harder to cope 
with than that of the child. 

The cooperation of the public libraries with the schools in the 
immigrant neighborhood has become so important that it needs 
no remark in this paper. It is one of the most effective means for 
the education of both children and adults. We welcome the work 
of the Playground Association of America, with its great movement 
toward teaching the children how to play and providing places for 
them. The school buildings should be thrown open after school 
hours for all sorts of entertainment and education of all our children 
along the play side. 

True, you hear the pessimist cry out that the new immigration 
is a menace to America, that the character of the immigrant has 
changed materially since 1890. Notwithstanding the fact that this 
is true, and that we are getting to-day a larger percentage of a 
poorer quality of immigrants than we did a generation ago, yet 
the immigrant always brings with him some inheritance of the good 
of the race. 



II. — By Waeren C. Ebeele, 
North American Civic League for Immigrants. 

The schools and the private organizations are and must continue 
to be complementary agencies. The school is permanent. It has 



EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT CHILD. 31 

traditions to support. The private organization is plastic. It is 
only accountable to that small body constituting its board of direc- 
tors, and is free to try and prove that which is good, while the 
school, the public agency, can extend the influence of any new 
scheme of work only after the test has been made. 

One of the best examples of this process is the work of the public 
education association, with its visiting teachers. At first, working 
in cooperation with the schools, the association demonstrated con- 
clusively the value of the home visitor in ascertaining and remov- 
ing obstacles which make for retardation or contribute to the truancy 
and delinquency of the pupil. Now two of these workers have been 
added to the regular school force and are assigned to the ungraded 
department. Another illustration is that of vocational advisor, 
also developed outside the school, but so obviously needed to round 
out the intelligent program of education that vocational information 
departments are now made integral parts of the school systems in 
a number of the larger cities. 

The United States Bureau of Education has shown that 50 per 
cent of the school children throughout the country do not attend 
past the sixth grade. Here is an important point in the education 
of the immigrant child where the private agencies can and should 
cooperate with the public schools. This tendency to leave school, 
taking working papers at the age of 14, is very marked with the 
foreign child, especially among Italian and Slavic immigrants. 

In up-State cities and also in New York City, the cooking and 
other domestic science courses for the girls generally do not beo-in 
before the seventh grade. Thousands of girls every year leave school 
at 14, before this grade is reached. They spend three, four, five, or 
six years, probably, in factories or shops which do not give them the 
training for home making. Yet, at the end of that time they marry 
and become mothers, unfitted though they are to take up the task of 
home making. 

In New York City in 1912, out of 388,000 public-school girls, but 
43,500 were in cooking classes. Twenty-two thousand girls leave 
school each year before the seventh grade is reached. This process 
continued through six years means that one-third of the girls never 
have an opportunity to receive proper training in home making. 

Although the girl may not start her school education in domestic 
science before the seventh grade, she begins her home tasks at 6 or 7 
years. If she is old enough to do these tasks, she is certainly old 
enough to learn to do them right. She can begin in the first grade 
with simple processes which she can learn to do correctly. An op- 
portunity for cooperation in this field, then, is to clearly demonstrate 
that portion of the field which the public agency is not covering. 



32 EDUCATIOlSr OP THE IMMIGEANT. 

III. — By Annie Carroll Moore, 
Supervisor of work iDith children, New York Public Library. 

Since the removal of the age restriction of ten years from our 
library rules, we are quite unable to supply the spontaneous demand 
for " easy books," in very simple English. Furthermore, we find 
that such books are eagerly read by older members of a family, as 
well as by the children, and that they serve as an introduction to the 
use of the public library in the home of the child of foreign 
parentage. 

The supply of "easy books " has been steadily and generously in- 
creased during the past five years, but the waiting lines of children 
have grown longer and longer at more than 10 of the 41 branch 
libraries of the New York Public Library system. 

The more effective the teaching of English in the public schools, 
the more human and varied the subjects presented, the greater the 
spontaneous demand for books from the public library on the part 
of children of all ages, and of the adult readers as well. 

The requirement of a system of self-registration, by which every 
child writes his name in a membership book, has done much to im- 
press upon children and upon library assistants the importance of 
private care of public property. The membership book bears the 
following promise at the top of each page : 

When I write my name in this book I promise to take good care of the books 
1 use in the library and at home, and to obey the rules of the library. 

The selection of books in fine editions, and the inclusion of picture 
books by the leading artists in foreign countries, have proved an in- 
centive to more careful treatment of books and an effective antidote 
for the comic supplement order of picture books. 

A natural development in considering the reading interests of chil- 
dren in the public library has been the story-telling in English, and 
to some extent in foreign languages, notably in the German, Bo- 
hemian, Italian, and Hungarian languages. Stories heard at the 
library story hour are repeated again and again in the family. To 
the children of foreign parentage, the library story hour serves as a 
link with their native land, strengthening feelings of respect for 
their parents and for their language, their folklore, and their history, 
by revealing contributions to books in American libraries. The 
weekly story hour and reading clubs are as eagerly attended by 
groups of older boys and girls as by little children, and form a most 
effective means of guiding their reading by suggestion rather than 
by direct recommendation. 

Familiarity with books and enjoyment in the use of them has 
been the watchword in the development of the library's work with 
immigrant children. There is now in every children's room a special 



THE IMMIGRANT ADULT. ' 33 

collection of several hundred books for recreational reading and for 
purposes of study, in addition to the books circulated for home and 
school use. The aim is to give to the children's room in a public 
library an atmosphere that invites familiar acquaintance with the 
room and its books and fosters the love of reading. 

Individual tastes indicative of the natural bent of many a boy or 
girl in the line of drawing, invention, mechanics, natural history, 
poetry, or music, and a growing tendency to seek books in libraries 
to gratify personal preferences, are constantly observed, and are fol- 
lowed with interest by the children's librarians, who are known among 
the immigrant children as " library teachers." It is indeed at this 
point that the cooperation between the librar}'^ and the school may 
become a vital thing by definitely relating interests awakened in 
school to books in the library. 

For several years the library has supplemented with books the 
classroom libraries supplied by the board of education. Principals 
and teachers have often been aided with lists and other helps, and 
many of them have brought classes to spend an hour of a school 
session in learning the use of reference books and catalogues, in 
browsing at bookshelves or at tables where books dealing with a 
subject combining the study of English and geography had been 
placed by library assistants, or in listening to a story related to the 
study of English. 

IV. EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT ADULT. 

I. — By Clarence M. Abbott, 
North American Civic Leac/ue for Immigrants. 

The State of New York, in its education law, j^rovides that work- 
ing children between the ages of 14 and 16 in cities of the first and 
second class shall attend evening school, but no obligation for evening 
classes rests upon smaller cities or villages. Extension of evening 
educational advantages to thousands of immigrants and others for 
whom they are required depends absolutely upon individual boards 
of education. In some communities immigrant adults attend classes 
with American boys to the disadvantage of both ; in others there is a 
partial recognition of the necessities of the immigrant and notably 
in the largest cities there are special schools or classes for the in- 
struction of the immigrants. "Home rule" prevails and the State of 
New York has never in its statutes gone on record for the instruction 
of immigrants save as regards labor camps. 

A Massachusetts law requires evening classes in communities of 
10,000 population or larger and obliges the attendance of illiterate 
minors upon them. The statute places the responsibility of enforcing 



34 EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGEANT. 

attendance upon the employer, who may be fined if his illiterate 
laborers do not present themselves at evening school. The obligation 
laid upon cities to conduct evening classes is well worth imitation, 
but compelled attendance is doubtful in policy and difficult in en- 
forcement. 

In the report of the New York State education department for 1911 
the following statement occurs : 

The policy of tlie State should be to require all cities and all districts having, 
a certain number of foreign adults who have declared their intention to become 
citizens to maintain night schools wherein such persons may be taught the 
English language and American histoiy. Special apportionments of State funds 
in support of these schools should be authorized. 

This view of the necessities of the case is commendable, but it is 
not sufficiently broad. Great Americanizing advantages such as are 
here proposed should not be restricted to those immigrants who have 
procured their first naturalization papers, but should be open to all. 

Not including New York City there are 25 cities and 6 villages that 
conduct classes for teaching English to foreigners, the average dura- 
tion of the session being 60 nights. The total average attendance 
upon these classes is 5,794. This important educational work is not 
carried on by the public schools in 19 cities which range in popula- 
tion from 9,000 to 21,000. Some school superintendents say in ex- 
planation that they have fruitlessly urged the organization of these 
classes ; others that the city budget does not provide for them ; that 
they have been previously unsuccessfully tried ; that .the foreigners 
are few in number in the community ; that private agencies, such as 
the Y. M. C. A. or social settlements, are carrying the responsibility. 

Adequate instruction of the immigrant involves: (1) The teaching 
of English; (2) protectional information; (3) civics instruction and 
naturalization aid; (4) public lectures in native tongues and English; 
(5) library advantages; (6) museums, etc. 

It seems perfectly clear that instruction in English must be first 
undertaken. If the textbook or the developed theme have relation 
to the daily life and experience of the immigrant, then a great ad- 
vantage is gained. From the very first hour the immigrant lands 
at the Battery he is a prey of those who would fraudulently gain his 
money. Protectional information against these abuses should be 
furnished them at the earliest possible time through well- arranged 
textbooks or themes. 

Definite and special instruction in civics, or the incidental convey- 
ing of information on this subject, is included in most schools where 
English-to-foreigners classes are organized. However, there are five 
cities in New York State where civics is not taught to the immigrant 
adult in the public schools. The adoption of definite civics for 
foreigners' courses by the cities of Buffalo and New York has been 



THE IMMIGRANT ADULT. 35 

an important advance. Civics instruction should not touch the 
naturalization courts theoretically, but can with the consent of nat- 
uralization examiners and judges be made an actual preparation 
for the court test. Such is the practice in Los Angeles, where the 
school instructs for entrance to citizenship, and it is possible in New 
York State as well. Judges here have expressed favorable views 
with reference to the principle of definite school preparation for 
the examination. The details can no doubt be aiTanged. 

The system of lectures in the New York public schools has made 
a very great educational impression. The use of the native tongue 
in some foreign communities increases the advantages offered and is 
greatly appreciated by the auditors. A few other cities in the State 
have opened their schoolhouses for public-school lectures, but none 
have developed as fully as the New York Bureau of Lectures. For 
the instruction of the newly arrived immigrants in large bodies con- 
cerning America and its ways there is no opportunity equal to that 
of the public-school lectures in the native tongue of the alien. 

Public attention has recently been drawn to the desirability of 
establishing small museiuns in various sections of cities, where art 
and culture can be exemplified and brought within reach of the 
people. What a great educational advantage would be gained if 
exhibits of this kind, perhaps changing in character, could be added 
to the activities of the public school or library and be made available 
for directed study by the immigrant and his child. 

The evening-school system in New York City under the admirable 
direction of Mr. Shields should be considered alone, and may be said 
to afford the greatest and most convincing example of ^educational 
work for immigrants in America. The average attendance of over 
20,000, the 20 or more nationalities represented, and-the interest mani- 
fested among the pupils are sufficient evidence of a growing interest. 
Mr. Shields's last report upon the New York evening schools is a 
splendid analysis of the work, which frankly discusses failure as well 
as successes. 

While, beyond doubt, the learning of English should be urged upon 
the immigrant, if illiterate he should not be deprived of books in 
his own tongue. He has brought an inestimable treasure to America — 
an inheritance of old-world culture. The Italian barber possibly 
knows Dante better than you or I, for he is devoted to his classics 
in literature as well as music, and they should be available to him. 
It is not sufficient to have an uninteresting collection of books in 
foreign languages in a main library perhaps a mile or more from the 
foreign colony; there should be branches or distribution centers 
near the colony. Ample publicit}^ of the library advantages should 
be given through the foreign-language jDress. and earnest and sym- 
pathetic effort should be made to popularize the branch. With the 



36 EDUCATION" OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

exception of those in New York and a few other cities, libraries are 
not progressive in their educational work for foreigners. 

The State education department has traveling libraries for for- 
eigners in a few languages, and these are freely borrowed by local 
libraries. Our efforts generally in educating the immigrant should 
be to increase the public institutions for him and to urge him to 
use them. The one subject can gradually be accomplished by pub- 
licity and demonstration of facts, and others by publicity again 
through the foreign language press, by cooperation of national 
societies, and in similar ways. 



II. — By E, H. Lewinski-Corwin, 

New York Academy of Medicine. 

This country, as well as this city, faces a very serious social prob- 
lem created by the nature of the recent heavy immigration, which is 
composed mainly of Slavs and Italians, two races who in their mores, 
their folkways, their habits of mind and life, conceptions of right 
and wrong, traditions, and physic reactions are very different from 
the people into whose midst they have come. They may be, and they 
are, possessed of great gifts and latent possibilities that will prove 
at some future day a 'great asset to this country, but for the time 
being they present a serious problem, a problem of adjustment. 

There exist very disquieting signs' that our body politic has not 
yet struck the best solution of this problem. One illustration out of 
a great number may suffice. I quote from Prof. Chaddock's paper 
published in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and 
Social Sciences, March, 1911, page 73 : 

The number of male prisoners per 1,000,000 of the population of voting age 
in 1890 was as follows : Native white of native parents, 3,395 ; native white 
of foreign parents, 5,886 ; foreign whites, 3,270. In this analysis, age for age, 
the foreign born show a lower rate than the native born. Besides, the table 
shows criminality among the native born of foreign parents twice as high as 
either of the other groups. 

There exists a lack of adjustment and a disrupting social influence, 
in that children of foreign parentage brought up in this country 
grow out of harmony with their parents. They become different, 
and not being educated enough, they become ashamed of their 
parents' ways, and lose all respect for them. Proper family ties 
become loosened and often altogether disrupted. This lack of family 
spirit, of family pride, added to the lack of adjustment, is responsi- 
ble for the lapses in the second generation, as partially illustrated in 
the above statistics. Many of us realize this, and it leads us to put 
emphasis on the importance of the education of the immigrant adult. 
He must be given every opportunity possible to educate his mind and 



THE IMMIGRANT ADULT. 37 

to find himself — an opportunity which was denied to him in liis 
native land. You can not expect to do it through the medium of the 
English language; you can not expect that an unschooled man or a 
woman working hard all day in shop, factory, mill, or railway will 
grasp the English language to such an extent as to enjoy reading 
and thinking in this language. They will never do it. They must 
be educated, if at all, through the medium of their native tongue. 
Hence the need- of libraries, educational and recreational centers, 
where all that is worth while may be given to them in a way that 
they may understand and enjoy. 



III. — By Mrs. Adelaide Bowles Maltby, 

Tompkins Square Branch, Neiv York Public Librarp. 

The New York Library has 41 branches, and all that are located 
in districts where foreigners live have collections of books in lan- 
guages native to the residents. In this way we try to show^ our 
friendship to those adults who do not read English and may never 
do so. This makes it possible to impart American ideas and ideals 
and aids the parents to keep in touch with their children, who rapidly 
take on new ways and manners. Our books are selected from the best 
authors in their own languages, and there are translations from our 
best authors. Of course we include civics, American histories, natu- 
ralization pamphlets, and other books intended to teach our laws, 
customs, and traditions. 

We go even further. We have assistants of the nationalities rep- 
resented whose especial duty it is to seek the acquaintance of their 
countrymen and to make known to them the library privileges. The 
papers printed in foreign languages are always glad to publish items 
which will help their patrons, and we use their columns freely. 
Foreigners become Americans under such conditions much more 
naturally and rapidly than they would without books in their own 
tongues. The desire to learn English is early evident. We find it 
difficult, indeed, to supply enough books of the sort which teach the 
language, hold the reader's interest, and present right ideals, all at 
the same time. 



IV. — By Rosamond Kimball. 

The fortnight which the foreigners spend aboard ship on their way 
to America affords an opportunity to reach these people at a time 
when they have nothing to do but listen and learn. It is, perhaps, 
the only time in their lives when they have leisure, and when they 
are peculiarly alive to the best thoughts and ideals that we can give 



38 EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGEANT. 

them, as their minds turn toward the new field in the New World. 
There should be a social worker in the steerage of every ship that is 
bringing immigrants, to start these new Americans on the road 
toward good citizenship and to warn them against the dangers that 
await them. 

This plan of placing social workers in the steerage has been put 
to the test. A Yale student, himself a Pole, made a trip in the steerage 
of a large steamer bringing passengers from the southeastern parts of 
Europe. He held classes in English every day. This opened the way 
to other things, and it was not long before these people began to 
flock to him for help and enlightenment. He gave talks on American 
government and citizenship. To illustrate other aspects of his work, 
I will quote from his report : 

Geography is a very fascinating study to tliese people and is eagerly sought 
after. The map was in constant use, all being eager to know about the location 
of their future homes. 

Among the things that I have done are taking the sick to the doctor, changing 
money, addressing letters, correcting misspelled addresses, and advising them 
about conditions in America, pointing out their destinations on the map and 
estimating fares, and in general acting as their advisor and protector. Once 
I had to admonish two young girls for indiscreet behavior, with good results. 

In reflecting upon my work I am able to draw some conclusions. The worker 
should be an oflicer, and could at the same time fulfill the role of a much- 
needed interpreter. He should have a small library of books and pamphlets 
in various languages. He should act as the guardian of these people against 
abuse from deck hands, etc., who treat them as dumb beasts. The main value 
of the teaching is that many become eager to study and attend night school 
later, and also become aware of greater opportunities in America. The Young 
Men's Christian Association could gain many members for its ranks by a dis- 
tribution of pamphlets. 

There should be also stereopticon lectures and the proper super- 
vision of recreation; card playing is now a favorite pastime, owing 
to the lack of any forms of amusement. A social worker could pro- 
vide for concerts in which the foreigners would themselves take part. 
In short, he could change the whole moral tone of the steerage, which 
is now very low. And lastly, the most important service that such 
a worker could perform would be not only to protect the women 
en route, but to warn them against the dangers to which they are 
exposed in America. When steerage social work is established, no 
foreign woman will leave the steerage without a full knowledge of 
the pitfalls that she must avoid, and none need fall victim to the 
white-slave traffic through ignorance. 

From the steerage these future Americans scatter to all parts of 
our country, and the ideals that they carry with them will surely 
bear fruit. Is it not of the utmost importance that the steerage 
should be transformed into a time of inspection for the foreigner? 
The Government is about to provide for placing officials in the steer- 



EVENING SCHOOLS FOR FOREIGNERS. 39 

age to see to it that the laws regulating the physical welfare of the 
immigrants are enforced. It should be provided by law that these 
officials be trained social workers appointed by civil-service exami- 
nation, so that they may be capable of performing the larger func- 
tion of caring not only for their physical, but their mental and moral 
environment as well. 



V. EVENING SCHOOLS FOR FOREIGNERS. 

THE NECESSITY FOR EVENING SCHOOLS. 

Albert Shields, 
District Superintendent, New York City Public Schools. 

The pupil who comes to us is a whole man or a whole woman, and 
if we consider the learning side only we fail to get the entire per- 
sonality of the student. I have often thought of an evening school 
that would be a sort of glorified public social settlement; a place 
where the immigrants might come, not only to learn, but to follow 
their own social instincts; a place where men and women might 
have the gymnasium and the ballroom, the library, the club, and 
every form of activity that would make the school the center of their 
whole life, so far as that could be possible. It is true that, in a city 
as large as ours, it becomes necessary to divide these activities; but 
I do not think we should forget the unity which should be back of 
them. 

In New York there are a great many private or civic public agen- 
cies that are doing splendid work in aiding the immigrant. There 
are societies, religious and secular, especially dedicated to the wel- 
fare of particular nationalities. There are social settlements, 
branch libraries, and finally our own public activities. It seems 
incomprehensible why so many agencies engaged in the solution of 
a common problem should remain separated. It is true that not a 
little has been accomplished, and that we have had the opportunity 
of meeting the representatives of these various organizations. We 
have tried to contribute our quota of effort, and we have received 
considerable lielp from them; nevertheless, I do not think that we 
have done enough to justify us in self-congratulation; we should 
rather stop to analyze our own condition, so as to find what we have 
failed to do, to discover what possibilities we have not yet realized. 
I hope that every principal and teacher, therefore, will make it his 
business to learn what his neighborhood has to offer for the immi- 
grant. The museums, the hospital clinics, the free employment 
agencies, all these might be added to the others I have mentioned. 
We wash to make the immigrants understand, at least, that if we 



40 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGEANT. 

can not as public workers give them all we should like to give we 
can, at least, be sources of information and direct them. 

I can not forbear expressing my appreciation of the help which 
I have received from many of the cooperative agencies, particularly 
the North American Civic League for Immigrants. Our first busi- 
ness is to teach English, the colloquial English that will enable a man 
to go on in life; to get a job, to keep it, and then to get a better one; 
to find his way aboiit the streets ; to overcome that feeling of strange- 
ness which is necessarily a handicap to every new arrival. No other 
phase of instruction must be allowed to interfere with this primary 
one. We have learned that immigrants are not all alike, and what 
should be taught to one may be quite unsuitable for another. The 
graduate of a German gymnasium should not receive the same sort of 
instruction that we give a man who is fresh from the plow. 

It is generally true that we must not be too anxious to consider 
details, too insistent on requiring a proper enunciation, too ready to 
correct every grammatical error; nevertheless, there is a type of 
students who receive such instruction gladly and profit by it readily. 
The teaching of English is our primary problem, but we must remem- 
ber, too, that language can not be taught unless it conveys ideas. 

The foreigner has a large stock of ideas and experiences, and it is 
from these that we must work. An immigrant, for instance, who 
has been the victim of unfortunate social conditions will readily learn 
to contrast them with those in his new home. Supplementing this, 
he should learn something of the city in which he lives, and this 
brings up the subject of civic instruction. Probably as many educa- 
tional sins have been committed in teaching civics as in any other 
branch of elementary work. An immigrant should not be fed upon 
such dry bones as the term of a Senator or the powers of a Federal 
justice. Civics, as he knows it, means the letter carrier, the post office, 
the policeman, the regulations of the city that touch him closely, such 
as those of the tenement-house department or of the board of health. 
In teaching civics, therefore, we must remember that we should deal 
with something with which he is in a degree familiar and that our 
instruction should be made useful. Moreover, instruction in civics 
should be filled with a fine spirit of patriotism. Such instruction 
should not be merely a matter of cheering for the flag or of boasting 
of our material wealth, but of something much more real than that. 

Some immigrants, when they first land, know little of their rights, 
and it is appropriate that they should be enlightened; but they should 
hear, too, something of their duties. Although the immigrant comes 
here to improve his material conditions, it is most important that he 
understand that he should become a contributor to the social welfare. 

Finally, it is not amiss to include in our instruction that sort of 
practical guidance which will save the immigrant from unfortunate 



EVENING SCHOOLS FOR FOREIGNERS. 41 

experiences with unreliable bankers, unscrupulous intelligence offices, 
so-called, or from possible schemes of his sophisticated countrymen 
who sometimes with great shrewdness and little scruple do not hesi- 
tate to prej on the recently arrived victim. 

It is undoubtedly true that in all foreign classes a few students 
are apt to lead in discussion, and that in a sense of temporary triumph 
we may forget that there are many who remain dumb. We know the 
way to do a thing is to do it, and this is essentially the way to learn 
to speak any language. 

The selection of teachers of English-to-foreigners classes is made 
through a system of examinations by the board of examiners. In no 
other branch of instruction does the personality of the teacher count 
for so much. It goes without saying that he should know how to teach. 
He should know the methods by which he can instruct immigrants in 
the langiuige when a great majority of his pupils know nothing of its 
literary aspect. As a matter of fact, few of them know the grammar of 
their own language, and many of them do not know how to write and 
read it. Far more important than methods of instruction, however, 
are interest in the pupil and enthusiasm in the work. Immigrants 
are truly strangers, and they must feel not only that they are learn- 
ing, but that the instructor has a peculiar interest in each individual. 
He should know something of each pupil's life, occupation, and home 
surroundings. The teacher, too, should be able to realize what the 
background of the immigrant's experience is. 

It is a debated question whether the teacher should be familiar 
with the immigrant's own language. It is obvious that a knowledge 
of that language is not a handicap, and there are times during the 
process of instruction when the ability to translate some peculiar 
idiom may save considerable time. On the other hand, it is a fact 
that many of our most successful instructors have no knowledge 
whatever of the language of the pupil. If this statement surprises 
you, it is because you do not realize how important it is that the 
pupil himself should be the active person during the process of in- 
struction. Moreover, a teacher who finds refuge in translation is 
apt to do poor teaching. There are practical reasons which make 
it impossible to limit the selection of teachers to those who know the 
language of the student; but aside from the fact it may be stated 
with certainty that such a knowledge is not essential. I am aware 
that not everyone holds this view, and in some of the private insti- 
tutions with which we are glad to cooperate, the selection of a fellow 
countryman as instructor is the rule. So far as such a method may 
help in solving a problem of teaching, I think we should welcome 
it so that we may gain whatever knowledge may come from actual 
experience. 



42 EDUCATIO]Sr OP THE IMMIGRANT. 

One of the worst errors that an instructor can make is to adopt 
toward the student an attitude of patronage. Immigrants are men 
and women who have the same passions, the same desires, the 
same fundamental social relations that the teacher himself has; and 
in many cases they have acquired an experience of life which is 
itself an important element in education. The teacher can do his 
best work if he causes the immigrants to feel that he is working with 
them toward a higher level of ability, but not by lifting them from 
above. I know of no place where a fine spirit of comaraderie will 
be more fruitful. The teacher's relation should be a fraternal one. 



SELECTION OF EVENING-SCHOOL TEACHERS. 

I. — By James 0. Byrnes, 
Secretary, Board, of Exammers, New York City Board of Education. 

The right professional spirit is the most important requirement of 
a teacher of foreigners ; the spirit of earnest sympathy with the work 
which evening schools are attempting to accomplish among immi- 
grants ; the spirit of one who assumes the work, not for the compen- 
sation, which is often inadequate, but for the love of the work and 
for the sake of doing good to the State and to his fellowmen. The 
mere requirement of a high-school education, with either experience 
in teaching the special branch or a special course in methods of teach- 
ing, does not insure preparation for such work. The young men and 
young women in the senior classes of the colleges form a very large 
class of applicants. The largest class, however, consists of day-school 
teachers, who by reason of the fact that they hold a regular license 
to teach are eligible to positions as teachers of English to foreigners 
in the evening schools. There is of course a written examination. 
From such written examination holders of day-school licenses are 
exempt. The examination is in English, phonetics, grammar, com- 
position, meaning and use of words, with a question or two in methods 
of teaching. The day-school teachers are required to pass an oral 
examination. That oral examination is designed to test the familiar- 
ity with the means, agencies, and instruments for imparting a knowl- 
edge of our tongue to foreigners, without being able to speak their 
tongue. 

Years ago it was thought necessary for the teacher to have knowl- 
edge of the foreigner's tongue, but we found that many of the for- 
eigners who were accepted as teachers because of that requirement 
were very poor in other respects, and that we did better with our 
own teachers who know how to go about the work and how to manage 
a class. 



EVENING SCHOOLS FOR FOEEIGNEES. 43 

We realize that beyond a knowledge of English it is necessary for 
the teacher to know modem methods of imparting instruction to 
these classes. And here for our authority we do what all professional 
people do: We look up the work of those who are acknowledged in 
our professional circle to be the leaders in this work, and we advise 
teachers to prepare themselves along the lines they follow. None of 
us feel, however, that the preparation is wholly adequate, nor can 
we make the test a really severe test and get the supply of teachers 
that we need. 

We must in this work cut our cloak to fit the cloth. If we raise 
the standard too high, we do not get enough teachers. For $3 a night 
we can not get the ideal sort of teachers. Those who think themselves 
ideals will not work for that compensation ; and, of course, the truly 
ideal teachers who will work without any compensation are few in 
number. In short, we must take the best of them that present them- 
selves. We are aware that these methods of selecting teachers, 
namely, tests of knowledge of our own tongue, of methods of teach- 
ing, and of phonetics of the English language, do not insure the selec- 
tion of fit teachers onl}^ We get many good teachers, but we should 
be glad to get better teachers. 

Wholl}^ suitable textbooks have not yet been made. The field is 
very large. The immigrants are of different types, with very dif- 
ferent degrees of preparation. Each requires a special treatment, 
and nobody has yet mapped out in detail the specific treatment for 
each class. That work is yet to be done, and until it is done, our 
teachers can not be fully prepared in advance. They can not learn 
the work except from books, for they can not begin to teach until 
they get a license. 

It is difficult for us to get women teachers for evening schools. 
It is a fact which we regret that the more experienced women in 
our day schools do not present themselves for the evening school 
work. We get many of the young and immature teachers who are 
receiving a salary, I believe, of only $60 a month. We should rather 
have teachers of 8 or 10 years' experience who have acquired a pro- 
fessional attitude, and are keen enough to analyze the elements of the 
situation and broad enough to see it in all its bearings. 



II. — By Edith L. Jabdine, 
General Secretary, Internatiotial Institute for Young Women. 

My point of view in regard to the education of the immigrant 
has been gained through very intimate relations with our immi- 
grant neighbors during several years. I have known them in their 
homes and in the classroom, and I have had daily opportunity to 



44 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGRANT. 

help straighten out or remove difficulties that beset individuals. 
The perplexities and hardships of the immigrant's first years in 
America are very real to me. 

Teaching the adult immigrant is a very different problem from 
teaching the immigrant child. It is not only a question of provid- 
ing courses in English and kindred subjects, but rather of giving 
the immigrant that kind of instruction which will help him to 
become adjusted to his surroundings as rapidly as possible, and of 
giving him the practical knowledge that will help him to find the 
way for himself. 

The teaching of the adult immigrant must be more individualized 
than that of the child. The adult brings a fund of experience and 
knowledge to the classroom that should be utilized. 

As the pupils are necessarily so unequal in mental equipment, I 
believe that the selection of teachers is an important matter. In my 
experience there are two types of teachers who are successful in 
this field : First, the man or woman who speaks the language of the 
pupils and has had the ambition and perseverance to master English 
to the point of being able to teach it — one who has gained what 
we may call an American point of view, and has at the same time 
a sympathetic understanding of the students in his class. Second, 
the American man or woman who has genius as a teacher, wide 
sympathies, few prejudices, and the gift of recognizing the common 
human elements in all people; who feels that the only barrier be- 
tween himself and his pupils is that of language. 

In my opinion, as a rule, the first is the better. Between the 
teacher who speaks the native language and the pupil there is no 
barrier of language. It is wonderful how even a slight knowledge 
of the language helps. At only a few words of greeting, perhaps, 
eyes will light up at the effort to get nearer, and a big hole will be 
made in the wall of separation. The teacher who knows the language 
will have a knowledge of home conditions, customs, traditions, and 
religious observances which will enable him to avoid giving offense 
or making blunders which sometimes cause the student to leave. 

When the Balkan War broke out, the Greek girls in one of our 
English classes were so excited over the war news that they could 
think of nothing else during their lesson hour. Every girl, without 
exception, had a relative or friend at the front. They brought Greek 
newspapers to the class each evening and could not pay attention to 
anything else. We realized that it was useless to insist upon their 
studying under the circumstances, and we felt that something must 
be done or the class would be broken up. Just at this crisis some of 
the girls asked us if we could help them to do something for their 
country. They said that their men were fighting, while they had to. 



EVENING SCHOOLS FOR FOREIGNERS. 45 

git with their hands folded. As all the girls were skilled needle- 
women, we suggested that they make articles for a sale and then hold 
a bazaar for the benefit of the Greek Red Cross. The plan worked 
like magic. A short lesson in English was given each evening; then 
the girls devoted their time to working for the bazaar under the 
instruction of a skilled needlewoman. At the end of a month the 
bazaar was held and was a great success. Since that time our Greek 
classes have developed very rapidly, because the girls have realized 
how deeply we are in sympathy with them. I tell this story to illus- 
trate how much a sympathetic knowledge of the people and their 
home conditions may help. Our relation to all the Greek people has 
been ver3^ much strengthened by our attitude during their troubles. 

A teacher who speaks the language of the pupils is able to draw 
from the native literature stories, poems, proverbs, and songs which 
in translation the student will be overjoyed to recognize as old friends. 
The teacher should be able to extol the heroes of the student's coun- 
try, the deeds of valor of his people. While teaching allegiance to 
the new country, he would not destroy patriotism for the old. It is 
very important for us to remember that people bom in other coun- 
tries may become good American citizens, and probably will be 
better ones, if they are not taught to despise the country of their 
birth or to lose their love for it. 

Again, the foreign teacher will know what a sea of bewilderment 
overwhelms the newcomer at first and how distorted are his views, 
and this teacher should know best how to treat him. A Russian 
girl rushed into her classroom one evening with a paper in her hand ; 
she burst out crjdng and said that a man had forced her to go to the 
city hall and take out this paper with him and then had told her 
that she was married to him. She disliked him very much and did 
not want to marry him, but felt that her doom was sealed. The 
teacher looked at the paper and saw that it was only a marriage 
license. She then explained to the girl and to the class the nature of 
a marriage license, and she destroyed the paper. This action made a 
profound impression on the class, and the girls were helped to real- 
ize that they were breathing a freer air, where the tyranny of man, 
which is so strong in the Old World, might be safely resisted. If the 
teacher had not known the Russian language, she could not have 
helped in this instance. 

The classroom for the adult immigrant affords a unique oppor- 
tunity to learn under what conditions he struggles when he comes to 
this country; to learn how often he is defrauded, ill-used, and ex- 
ploited because of his ignorance. The only way that a knowledge of 
the conditions under which immigrants live and work can be accu- 
rately obtained is through the immigrants themselves. Does it not 



46 EDUCATIOlSr OF THE IMMIGEANT. 

seem a proper function of public education to secure this information, 
and then to pass it on to those who have the power to redress such 
wrongs? The blackest spots in the industrial world exist where the 
newcomer, ignorant and unenlightened, is employed. 

Through our classes for immigrant girls we have learned of the 
very bad conditions under which they work as cleaners, waitresses, 
etc., in many of the restaurants in this city. We have also learned 
that there is no law to correct this kind of employment, and we hope 
to collect sufficient evidence to bring about the reforms needed. 

In regard to the actual teaching of English, I believe that while 
this subject is taught, the native language should not be spoken, ex- 
cept perhaps in the first lessons, but it seems to me that it would be 
possible after the English lesson is over to devote 15 or 20 minutes to 
individual questions and problems which would help along the lines 
I have suggested. 

There is no better place for the educated, intelligent, foreign-born 
man or woman than in the classroom, where he can interpret us to his 
own people, and them to us, and help them to become our people as 
rapidly as possible. 



III. — By Arthur J. Roberts, 
Principal, Manhattan PuMic Evening School No. S. 

When we recall that teacher and scholar have labored arduously 
during the day, and that a large amount of nervous energy has been 
expended before coming to evening school, we see how necessary it is 
that the teacher possess abundant nervous force and energy. The 
nightly lessons must be presented with animation and vigor, and this 
can be done only by a healthy, vigorous person. The evening school 
is no place for the constitutionally weak teacher, for not only does 
he accomplish little good for his pupil, but he may permanently im- 
pair his own health. 

Another quality which must distinguish the successful teacher is 
perseverance. No matter how scholarly the teacher is, no matter how 
well the material of the lessons is presented, again and again the same 
mistakes in pronunciation and enunciation arise, and again and again 
they must be corrected. The successful teacher must also be well 
versed in the occupations and interests of the immigrant. Such 
knowledge enables the teacher to appeal to their interests, to correlate 
the subject matter with their pursuits, and to fit in the classroom work 
with their daily lives. 

It would help in the selection of teachers to prescribe that all who 
have passed the examination to become evening school teachers must 
visit and observe in the evening schools before appointment. 



EVENING SCHOOLS FOR FOEEIGNEBS. 47 

It is difficult to keep good teachers in evening schools. About 35 
per cent of the evening school teachers each j^ear are newly ap- 
pointed. The older teachers drop out for various reasons, but if there 
were a yearly increase in salary for the successful teacher, many of 
those who leave would retain their positions. At present the same 
salary is paid the teacher, no matter how long he has taught. 



THE CONTENT AND METHOD OF INSTRUCTION. 

I. — By Robert B. Brodie, 
Principal, Manhattan Piihlic Evening School Xo. 2. 

It is the duty of the evening schools to provide a motive to the 
foreigner, to create in him an abiding interest in this country and 
in its institutions. What, then, are the subjects best fitted for the 
attainment of that end ? First and foremost, it is English, and sec- 
ondly such subjects as history, civics, geography, with particular 
reference to our institutions, customs, and manners. "WTien we con- 
sider the question how to make the foreigner socially efficient, we 
again find that the most fitting subjects are the English language, 
portions of industrial geography, and elementary knowledge of 
trades, and business customs and manners. 

The teacher generally commences an evening's work with conver- 
sation. The subject of conversation may be a theme that has been 
carefully prepared, or a topic of common interest in civics, history, 
or geography. As the lesson progresses the teacher writes the various 
statements in sentence form on the blackboard. This serves as a basis 
for further conversation, questions, and answers, and reading. As 
the pupils become more advanced, this reading may be supplemented 
by good texts and newspaper articles that are not too difficult. In 
oral reproduction and oral reading the teacher notes errors in pro- 
nunciation, articulation, and enunciation. The next part of the 
work is drills on words or expressions in which the pupils have made 
errors. The habit of slurring and poor articulation is very prevalent 
among the foreigner, and attempts are made to eradicate it. The 
great danger in teaching this topic lies in the fact that the work is 
likely to become dry and uninteresting, especially if the words and 
phonograms are not in the vocabulary of the pupils. 

In teaching that part of the subject which w^e call " language work 
and grammar " it must be remembered that learning a language is 
mainly a matter of imitation. In the beginning a little emphasis 
may be laid upon a few correct forms and irregular verbs and per- 
haps the elements of a sentence. In the second and third year we 
may devote a little more time to formal grammar. Spelling is the 
bane of the foreigner. His language is generally phonetic, while 



48 EDUCATION OF THE IMMIGEANT. 

ours is not ; hence the difficulty. Constant drill in written work and 
good lessons on that phase of the subject must be given. In written 
work the order of difficulty is generally followed. The pupils may 
drill on forms, copy from the board, write from memory, or lastly 
do original work. Original work can not be expected from beginners. 



II. — By IsADOR Springer, 
Principal, Brooklyn Puilic Evening School No. IJ/Jf. 

The adult immigrant knows what he wants when he comes into 
the evening schools, and no matter what we may want to make of 
him, if he thinks he is not getting what he wants, he will not come. 
Above all things he wants the evening schools to teach him to con- 
verse in English. 

The factors in conversation are, (1) a number of ideas, (2) a 
sufficient vocabulary or stock of words to express the ideas, (3) a 
manner of expression that will enable others to understand. In the 
case of adult immigrants, most of whom come here between the ages 
of 20 and 50, many of them have the ideas in their own language. 
IVhat we must do is to give them equivalent words for what they do 
know and teach them to express these words in such a way that they 
will be understood. Thus we make conversation the basis of instruc- 
tion. Gouin, in his "Art and Method of Studying Languages," was 
the first to call attention to the importance of conversation as the 
basis of acquiring a new language. But his method can not be 
used for school instruction. It must be modified and adapted to 
the particular and peculiar needs of the pupils. 

Basing our work upon the principles of proceding from the known 
to the unknown, from the near to the remote, we commence by naming 
the objects in the classroom. As we show the pupils an object we 
name it; we call upon the pupils to name it. Translation of the 
English word into their native language is not permitted. The at- 
tempt is made to establish a direct association or connection between 
the object and the symbol representing it in English. Then the 
names of objects, actions, qualities of objects, words showing relations 
of objects, and idiomatic expressions are gradually introduced into 
the instruction. The vocabulary must come out of the daily life of 
the people. We also attempt to teach our pupils to express their 
ideas clearly and distinctly. In the typical program about 10 minutes 
every evening is devoted to phonic drills. The adult pupils have 
organs of articulation well formed in the pronunciatioj^ of the speech 
forms peculiar to their native language. Therefore we have the 
double task of breaking old habits and forming new ones. The 
recognition of this peculiar and difficult work by evening school 



EVENING SCHOOLS FOR POEEIGNEES. 49 

teachers enables them to approach their labors in a spirit sympathetic 
with the needs of their pupils. Continued drill on phonics wearies 
the foreigner whose ears are not trained to the niceties of the English 
language. So we must endeavor to make our drills practical ; always 
in combination with words that are vital to the community life of 
pupils. 



SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES. 

I. — By Albert Loewinthan, 
Principal, Manhattan Puilic Ercning School No. 70. 

Supplementary activities in evening schools serve to establish a 
bond of sympathy between the pupils and the teacher and to engender 
a feeling of confidence for an American, and through him for Ameri- 
cans and American institutions. Confidence is the keynote to success- 
ful work. In the New York schools a great variety of such supple- 
mentary activities have been incorporated. There are debating clubs 
and civic organizations; entertainments at weekly assemblies have 
covered a broad range — talks by principals, teachers, and visitors on 
interesting topics, musicales, vocal and instrumental, recitations and 
dramatizations. Glee clubs, orchestras, legal aid societies, and em- 
ployment bureaus also exist in connection with public school classes 
for immigrants. 

The latest development in the matter of supplementary activities 
is in the line of athletics. Recently the public school athletic asso- 
ciation held its first evening elementary school meet in this city. A 
large number of foreigners were entered. The extension of this work 
may be instrumental in providing recreative activities to those deeply 
interested in athletics. 

Principals have also conducted sight-seeing trips to places of in- 
terest in the city. This is certainly a valuable experiment, for it 
tends to break down the barriers that make for segregation. In addi- 
tion it gives a wider experience and therefore affords excellent ma- 
terial for themes and lessons in language and civics. One principal 
has organized theater parties, and it is said that his school had the 
best average attendance in the entire city. 

Cooperation should be more widely extended. The lecture bureau 
could be helpful to a great extent by offering the use of the stere- 
opticon to principals of evening schools in buildings where lectures 
are given, and by arranging lectures in consultation with the teach- 
ing force of the evening schools of the neighborhood, so that correla- 
tion might be effected; the recreation center and the evening school 
should join hands; the churches which evening school pupils attend 



50 EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGRANT. 

should be interested in the work of Americanizing their people ; kins- 
men should bring their influence to bear ; employers should be invited 
to offer assistance ; settlement houses and libraries in the vicinity af- 
ford opportunities for cooperation; the traveling library is a most 
efficient supplement to regular school work; for by means of books 
borrowed from the traveling library, a school library and reading 
room may be established, which would offer attraction to many ; every 
means in our power should be used to let foreigners loiow of the ad- 
vantages off'ered ; foreign newspapers should be interested ; the steam- 
ship companies should arrange to have talks given to immigrants. 
We must do something to introduce immigrants to the schoolrooms, 
and when we have them there, we must adopt every available means 
to keep them there. 



II. — By Arthur V. Taylor, 

Supervisor of Evening Scliools, Newark, N. J. 

During the term ending April, 1913, the enrollment of the 70 
classes in our foreign department was 3,208, about one-fifth the en- 
rollment of all the departments in the evening school system. Our 
city ranks among the first half dozen in the United States in point 
of evening schools; proportionately, Newark's evening school at- 
tendance is double that of New York and nearly four times that of 
Buffalo. We strive to make instruction practical, by fitting it as 
closely as possible to daily needs. The pupils receive much practice 
in conversational exercises of workaday value, and as they advance 
in their grasp of English, instruction is given in the history and 
civics of our city. State, and Nation. But, above all, we try to give 
them a cordial welcome to their new home through the cheerful 
atmosphere of the classrooms. 

An investigation showed that among the more than 3,000 members 
of our foreign classes there were not one dozen citizens, and that not 
more than 250 had their first papers; that there was a general in- 
terest in citizenship, but a common impression that the process in- 
volved expenses beyond the set fees, and that even the procedure of 
getting the first paper was a complicated one. 

I found the officers in charge of the naturalization department ex- 
ceedingly ready to cooperate with the board of education in the exe- 
cution of any plan that would simplify the process of procuring 
papers. Accordingly, about 400 application blanks were distributed 
among the men who showed the greatest interest in the matter. 
These blanks were filled with the assistance of the teachers. To in- 
struct the teacher in the details of the procedure, a pamphlet was 



EVENING SCHOOLS FOE FOEEIGNEES. 51 

issued from the superintendent's office. This not only furnished 
needed facts, but resulted in genuine enthusiam in most of the classes. 
No other factor has been so active in bringing the teachers and 
pupils into sympathetic relations. The men seemed to appreciate 
the efforts to help them toward citizenship even more than the in- 
struction given in the set curriculum. 

The spirit of the clerk of the naturalization court was shown in 
his offer to keep his office open in the evening for those principals 
and teachers ayIio were willing to accompany their pupils there for 
the purpose of qualifying for the first papers. 

The exact results in figures are not yet available, but we Imow 
that the proportion of application forms that were exchanged for 
first papers is large; and, further, probably 500 or 600 men who 
Avere ignorant of the method are now familiar with it, and doubtless 
they have given the information to many more who were not in the 
schools. 



III. — By Michael J. Isaacs, 
Principal, Manhattan Puhlic Evening School \o. 82. 

The demands of commercial and industrial enterprises make a 
vocational bureau important. The teacher includes in the data of 
his class not only the present occupations of his pupils, but also their 
inclinations and ambitions. Letters and cards are sent to many of 
the leading commercial houses throughout the city apprising them 
of the evening school's desire to cooperate with them in furnishing 
competent and reliable men. 

Thus we may be the means of placing the immigrant in fields which 
he could not reach alone, and we afford an opportunity to choose 
according to the individual bent in what may prove the initiation of 
a life career. In this connection the mutual-aid organization is of 
great importance. Every evening before the class begins the regular 
work pupils who know of a vacancy in the shop, factory, or office, 
and those seeking employment, infonn the teachers, and this informa- 
tion goes to the principal, who classifies it and acts as a clearing house 
for the supply and ciemand. Another activity is the legal-aid bureau 
conducted by n number of teachers who are practicing attorneys and 
contribute their services. The bureau informs, guides, and advises 
the immigrant who, because of his ignorance, has often been mulcted 
of his earnings and savings by unscrupulous employers and dishonest 
business associates. This is interesting experience for the young 
lawyer who is enthusiastic and willing to cooperate in such an 
endeavor. Sometimes letters must be sent soliciting an amicable 
adjustment ; or. if necessar}', the case may be submitted to a legal-aid 



52 EDUCATION OP THE IMMIGRANT. 

society which undertakes cases in court. The school's legal- aid 
bureau is advisory only. Savings banks have been organized in 
elementary day schools, but up to the present time none has been 
established in an evening school. The imperative need for such an 
institution is apparent. 

While we are satisfying the mental requirements of the immigrant, 
we are not neglecting the sociological or community interests. While 
we are giving him the power to adjust himself properly to his new 
environment, we are striving to broaden his field of usefulness. 
Society demands this as a fair and just return for its great educa- 
tional investment. 

o 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

(Continued from p. 2 of cover.) 

1913. 

No. 1. Monthly record of current educational publications, January, 1913. 
No. 2: Training courses for rural teachers. A. C. Monahan and R. H. Wright. 
No. 3. Teaching of modern languages in the United States, C. H. Haudsohin. 
No. 4. Present standards of higher education. George Edwin MacLeah. 
\o. 5. Monthly record of current educational publications, February, 1913. 
No. 0. Agricultural instruction in high schools. C. H. Robison and F. B. Jenks. 
Xo. 7. College entrance requirements. Clarence D. Kingsley. 
' No. S. The status of" rural education. A. C, Monahan. 15 cts. 
No. 9. Consular reports on continuation schools in Prussia. 
No. 10. Monthly record of current educational publications, i\Iarc'h, 1913. 
No. 11. Monthly record of current educational publications, April, 1013. 
No. 12. The pi'omotioii of peace. Fannie Fern xindrews. 10 cts. 
No. 13. Standards of measuring the efficiency of .schools. G. D. Strayer. 
No. 14. Agricultural instruction in secondary schools. 

■ Xo. 15. Monthly record of current educational publications. May, 1913. 5 cts. 
No. 16. Bibliography of medical inspection and liealtli supervision. 
No. 17. A trade school for girls. 

No. 18. Congress on hygiene and demography. Fletcher B. Dresslnr. 
No. 19. German industrial education. Holmes Beck-wnth. 
No. 20. Illiteracy in the United States. 

Xo. 21. Monthly record of current educational publications, June, ]!n3. 
NO. 22. Bibliography of industrial, vocational, and trade education. 
No. 23. The Georgia Club (for study of rural sociologjO- E. C. Branson. 
No. 24. Education in Germany and the United States. G, Kerscheusteiner. 
Xo. 25. Industrial education in Columbus, Ga. R. B. Daniol. 5 cis. 
Xo. 26. Good roads arbor day. Susan B. Sipe. 10 cts. 
No. 27. Prison schools. A. C. Hill. 

Xo. 28. Expressions on education by American statesmen and publicists. 5 els. 
No. 29. Accredited secondarj' schools in the United States. K. C. Babcock. 
?\o. 30. Education in the South. 10 cts, 
Xo. 31. Special features in city school system.^. 
Xo. 32. Educational survey of Montgomery County, Md. 

.Xo. ,33. Monthly record of current educational publications, Sept., 1913. ~> cts. 
Xo. 31. Teachers' pension systems in Great Britain. R. \V. Sics. 
Xo. 35. A list of books suited to a high-school library. 
Xo. 3C. Work of the Bureau of Education for the natives of Alaska, 1912. 
Xo. 37. Monthly record of current educational publications, October, 1913. 
Xo. 38. Economy of time in education. 

No. 39. Mementary industrial school of Cleveland, Ohio. W. N. Ilailmann. 
Xo. 40. The reorganized school playground. H. S. Curtis. 
No. 41. The reorganization of secondary education. 

No. 42. An experimental rural school at Winthrop College. H. S. Browne. 
No. 48. Agriculture and rural-life day. E. C. Brooks. 
No. 44. Organized health work in schools. E, B. Hoag. 
No. 45. Monthly record of current educational publications, November, 1913. 
No. 46. Educational directory, 1913. 

No, 47, Teaching material in Government publications. F. K, Noyes. 
No, 48, School hygiene. W. Carson Ryan, jr. 
Xo. 49. The Farragut School. A. C. Monahan and Adams Phillips. 
No. 50. Fitchburg plan of cooperative industrial education. M. K. McCauu. 



